By Morgan Brickley
A recent Pennsylvania court case further proves that driving under the influence can have a profound impact on an individual’s life.
We all know that celebrity DUI arrests make headlines, but too often it is the ordinary citizen whose life takes a wrong turn as a result of an error in judgment. Not to mention, of course, the innocent bystanders who may fall victim to an incident involving a drunk driver.
Daryl Reinhardt, a mother and active community member from Hamilton Township, Pa., recently pleaded guilty to driving her car under the influence of alcohol when she hit a man walking on the side of the road, according to the Pocono Record.
Her blood alcohol level registered at 0.129 percent. The legal limit is 0.08 percent. Reinhardt pleaded guilty to one count each of homicide by vehicle, a class three felony, and first-offense driving under the influence of alcohol, an unrated misdemeanor.
She was sentenced to 11-23 months in county jail, according to WNEP local news.
Reinhardt was driving her Jeep Liberty SUV when she swerved onto the shoulder of the road and struck the victim, Darrin Brown, who was walking home from work.
Motorists who passed the scene of the accident stopped to assist Brown, but despite their efforts, he was later pronounced dead at the Pocono Medical Center. Reinhardt’s 14-year-old child was in the car at the time of the accident.
Reinhardt was not robbing a bank or running from the police. Nothing about the story was remarkable, except one poor decision that perhaps at the time didn’t seem like a big deal.
That one decision will now cost her two years of her life spent behind bars, and the immeasurable pain caused to the victim’s family and to her own.
Teresa Hicks spoke out on behalf of Reinhardt, her friend: “Daryl Reinhardt is a soccer mom, a great neighbor, a wonderful person. She supported me through breast cancer and her own breast cancer fight, my mother passing with cancer and her mother passing with cancer.”
Reinhardt wrote a letter to Darrin Brown’s estranged wife Wendy, but Brown was not sure she was ready to forgive. “I don’t know,” she said. “I have to know she felt bad about it.”
It’s impossible to tell if that forgiveness will come, or if the damage done on that night can be somehow reconciled. In the meantime, at the scene of the accident, several balloons were tied to a street sign to mark the place where so many lives were changed in just an instant.
By Guest Attorney
A woman in Centereach, New York killed her fiancé while he was trying to protect her from drunk driving.
Newsday reports that a witness heard Louis Weiderer tell Jesenia Vega she was going to get arrested if she tried to drive in her condition. Weiderer was leaning in the car’s window arguing with her.
After she screamed at him to leave her alone, she slammed on the accelerator, dragging Weiderer to his death.
Vega was arrested and charged with DUI (DWI in New York). She is likely to be charged with some form of manslaughter.
By Editor
An Ocala, Florida man was found not guilty of DUI manslaughter and DUI with property damage. The Ocala Star-Banner reports that David Andrew Ballinger had faced up to 31 years in prison and $20,000 in fines.
The Star-Banner earlier reported that the Florida Highway Patrol had responded, in January, to a single-vehicle crash. They found Robert Lewis Wilson pinned beneath the vehicle. Witnesses told investigators they had seen a man jump out of the truck and try to help Wilson, but that the man had run away.
Five hours after the crash, police went to Ballinger’s home and drew blood. His blood alcohol level was 0.05 percent, five hours after the crash.
A Florida Department of Law Enforcement toxicologist testified Ballinger’s BAC could have been above legal limit for DUI of 0.08 percent at the time of the crash. The Star-Banner’s article does not indicate whether Ballinger argued he had drank alcohol following the crash.
It appears that convincing juries that a driver was DUI when his measured BAC was below 0.08 percent is becoming increasing difficult.
By admin
Last week, an 11-year-old girl was charged with DUI after leading police on an 100 mph chase for roughly eight miles and then flipping her vehicle in Orange Beach, Ala.
An Associated Press story detailed that the chase began around 10:30 p.m. on July 3rd when a police officer saw a car speeding along a beach highway. After the officer flicked on his lights, the driver sped up and eventually clipped another car during the chase that eventually ended when the suspect’s car rolled over.
When police officers looked into the flipped car with their guns drawn, they were shocked to see the 11-year-old girl, who later said that she was picking up her sister at a concert. Slightly injured in the crash, the girl has been charged with DUI, speeding, reckless endangerment and leaving the scene of an accident.
Due to the age of the suspect, her name was not released. Police refused to release her blood alcohol level but did say that a blood test revealed it to be greater than 0.02 percent, which is the legal limit for minors in Alabama.
No alcohol was found in the vehicle, and it is believed that the girl drank prior to driving the vehicle, which belonged to relatives.
Who would have thunk it? On the night before the Fourth of July, you would expect an 11-year-old kid to be more interested in getting his or her hands on fireworks than a car. Luckily, this girl was not seriously injured and did not hurt anyone else during this most dangerous joy ride.
By Editor
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has cleared US Airways of wrongdoing in its DUI investigation into whether the airline served an already-intoxicated passenger. Dana Papst died while driving home from the Albuquerque, New Mexico airport.
The Aero-News Network reports that after Papst was served alcohol on a flight to Albuquerque, he turned the wrong way in I-25 near Santa Fe and struck a vehicle, killing himself and five others in a head-on collision. His blood alcohol level was four times the legal limit for DUI in New Mexico.
The FAA determined Papst had stopped in Bernadillo, New Mexico and bought beer at a convenience store. The accident occurred three hours after the flight had landed.
US Airways was banned from serving alcohol on flights going to New Mexico until the airline received a state liquor license. Obtaining a liquor license in New Mexico includes training servers to identify alcohol impaired or intoxicated passengers.
By Editor
A Connecticut driver was arrested in Westchester County, New York for DUI when he happened upon a police investigation into two auto accidents. According to the Journal News, police officers were investigating an accident where Matthew Siden had lost control of his car and crashed, ejecting his passenger.
While Siden was checking on his passenger, an Audi plowed into his car. Siden was charged with DUI and released. The driver of the Audi was not arrested.
Meanwhile, here comes Claudio O. Tacuri-Arpi. Tacuri-Arpi was arrested and charged with DUI, driving without a license and failing to obey a traffic device.
This was his second DUI-related arrest in less than 60 days.
By Editor
A mother from Fallbrook, California pled guilty to felony child endangerment for allowing her 6-year-old son to ride with her drunk husband.
According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, Rosa Carachure’s husband rolled their SUV, killing her son. She was seriously injured in the crash.
Shortly after burying her son, Carachure was shocked when police charged her with a felony. Authorities accused her of knowing her husband was too drunk to drive. She could now get a year in jail.
Jose Mendoza, the father, was charged with DUI manslaughter. He could get six years in prison.
Mendoza and his wife were arguing over his drunk driving when he purposefully swerved the vehicle to show her he could drive. The SUV rolled and the child, who was not wearing a seatbelt, was ejected. Two other children were uninjured.
Some prosecutors can certainly be vindictive. Carachure’s attorney said she’s been punished enough.
By admin
On March 13th of this year, an SUV crashed into a car, killing 17-year-old Samara Stricklen of Lakewood, Colorado. When police arrived at the scene, they found 16-year-old Alison Bowen behind the wheel of the SUV.
However, police learned during their investigation that 16-year-old Nanette Lafluer was actually operating the Ford Explorer during the fatal drunk driving accident.
With that said, Lafluer was recently charged with vehicular homicide while DUI. As for Bowen, she has been accused of drinking and driving sometime during the night of the fatal accident and thus is still facing a DUI charge.
And for her deception, Bowen has been charged with trying to influence a public servant.
A liquor store clerk is also facing charges in this unfortunate Colorado DUI case. The grand jury investigation has accused 44-year-old Pham Van Thein of repeatedly selling alcohol to minors, including one of Lafluer’s friends on that night.
Authorities have also determined that Lafluer drank some vodka purchased from Van Thein’s liquor store prior to getting behind the wheel of the SUV on that fatal night.
By Editor
A Jefferson County, Colorado liquor store clerk was sentenced to home detention and probation for selling liquor to a minor who later died in a DUI accident. Loc Quang Truong was given 120 days home detention and 18 months of probation.
Loc had pled guilty to providing alcohol to a 20-year-old minor using his older brother’s expired Michigan driver’s license. Paul Ondrish later rolled his vehicle, killing himself and a passenger.
They were not wearing seatbelts. Three teenagers, riding in the back seat and wearing their seatbelts, suffered minor injuries.
The boys’ families said they were satisfied with the sentence which includes 120 hours of community service in a trauma facility, restitution, a $1,000 fine, orders to obtain a GED, to not work in a liquor store, and to attend a victim-empathy panel.
