By Mary Ann
In the early morning hours of October 5, a couple was caught by police having sex in their car, reported The Chicago Tribune.
While that might not be an unusual act for officers to find couples in parked cars committing, it is unusual to bust someone for trysting in handicapped spot in a police station parking lot.
A Pennsylvania couple was caught in the Hellertown police station parking lot, after someone called to report a suspicious vehicle parked in front of the station.
The driver, Dennis Conor Cullen, and his female passenger admitted that they were unaware about where they had parked or that they were surrounded by several marked police cars.
Cullen was charged with a DUI after admitting that he had been drinking at a Lehigh University function earlier in the evening.
By Mary Ann
A Pennsylvania man was charged with DUI after he struck an ambulance Monday morning. The driver of a mini-van slammed into an ambulance that was transporting a patient to a hospital. He had to be cut out of his vehicle and is being treated for injuries to his legs and lower body. The patient being transported was not injured.
By Mary Ann
A Pittsburgh Pennsylvania woman pled guilty to DUI in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court. As she was being led to the probation office, an officer gave her a breath test. She was found to have a BAC more than twice the legal limit. She was immediately taken to jail. The defendant admitted that she had been frustrated with her long wait in court and had “a few vodkas” during the lunch break.
This was the second time in a month that a defendant was drunk in Pittsburgh court during a DUI hearing. A man who was drunk at his hearing earlier this month learned that he would be spending another week in jail before he could enter the county’s recovery program. Because of the thank giving weekend he could not be released from jail until Tuesday.
By Mary Ann
A Monaca Pennsylvania father recently pled guilty to DUI. He had been charged with DUI and child endangerment after his son told police that he had been drinking all day and was trying to light a marijuana pipe when he crashed his vehicle in Beaver County. There were no injuries. The father was sentenced to six months probation on the DUI charge and two years probation for child endangerment.
The boy had been found walking down the highway after he refused to get back in the car with his father. He also refused to ride with his mother who had been driving a separate car. She has been charged with her second DUI and faces up to six months in jail.
By Mary Ann
A Pennsylvania DUI case was dismissed this week after the prosecuting attorney failed to ask a police witness to identify the defendant. The driver, whose BAC was more than three times the legal limit in Pennsylvania, cannot be retried.
By Mary Ann
A 20-year-old man was arrested for DUI early on Tuesday morning. He was released and his car impounded. Police say that just half an hour after being released, the same Pennsylvania DUI suspect was arrested again–this time driving a different car.
Police say they noticed the second car because it was being operated without headlights, and when the officer approached the vehicle, he recognized the driver.
In some areas, DUI suspects are not released until their blood alcohol content readings have reached acceptable levels.
By Mary Ann
A 2004 modification to Pennsylvania DUI laws is under attack. Prior to the 2004 revision, Pennsylvania DUI law provided for a seven-year “look back” period, meaning that a second DUI arrest within seven years was treated more severely.
The new Pennsylvania DUI law extends the “look back” period to ten years. That change, however, has created complications in dealing with DUI offenders who entered into specific agreements in the past.
The case currently before a Pennsylvania court involves a man who was was arrested for drunk driving in 1994 and entered a program in 1996 with the explicit agreement that his acceptance of program terms would be treated as a prior conviction for a period of seven years.
Had the agreement been worded differently, the case might not be before the court today, but apparently many Pennsylvania DUI defendants entered into programs that explicitly accepted the seven-year “look back” period.
Now, the courts must determine whether the new Pennsylvania DUI law that extends the “look back” period can be applied to those defendants who accepted a seven-year period as part of an agreement offered by prosecutors and accepted by the original DUI court.