Co-Pilot Suspected of Being Drunk

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(CNN) A co-pilot for American Airlines was detained at Detroit Metropolitan Airport Saturday morning on suspicion of being drunk, an airport spokesman said.

The co-pilot was taken into custody after allegedly failing a Breathalyzer test administered by airport police, according to airport spokesman Michael Conway.

As a result of the incident, American Airlines canceled Flight 736 from Detroit to Philadelphia on Saturday.

“We are re-accommodating our customers on other flights,” American Airlines spokeswoman Laura Nedbal said in a statement. “Safety is our highest priority and we apologize to our customers for the disruption to their travel plans.”
Airport police were called to the North Terminal in the early morning hours in response to a report of a pilot who was “exhibiting signs of being drunk,” Conway said.

The co-pilot was administered a more precise sobriety test at a local police department. Both tests showed he was over the legal limit for operating an aircraft, airport police said.

Authorities will not name the co-pilot pending possible charges, but said he was born in 1965 and is a resident of Pennsylvania.
He was later released from custody after his alcohol level dropped, Conway said.
Airport police are now developing a case to present to the local prosecutor’s office, Conway said, noting that these kinds of incidents are “extremely rare.”

SOURCE: CNN Updated 7:34 AM ET, Sun March 27, 2016

Proposed Ignition Interlock Device Law Would Close Loophole

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Wisconsin State Senator Van Wanggaard (R-Racine) has proposed a new OWI ignition interlock device law that would require any and all vehicles that a convicted drunk driver will operate to have an ignition interlock device installed. Currently, Wisconsin OWI law, and DUI law in most states only require an ignition interlock device be installed on the driver’s primary vehicle. This is where the loophole exists. A convicted drunk driver can still drive someone else’s car, a car without the device. If the driver is caught by police, only a citation is issued. Senator Wanggaard’s bill would require a convicted OWI driver to carry a special driver’s license that would only allow the driver to drive cars with ignition interlock devices installed. That means that every car in the driver’s household would have to have the device installed.

Wisconsin Ignition Interlock Law

An ignition interlock device requires a driver to blow into a breath test device to prove he or she is sober. If the breath test machine registers any amount of blood alcohol content, the car will not start. After the car starts, the machine requires the driver to periodically blow into it to prove continued sobriety. If the driver fails the running breath test, the car will continue to run because of safety concerns. But either the car’s lights will flash continuously, or the car’s horn will sound. This will attract police attention and the driver will be stopped. Other safeguards built into an ignition interlock device include temperature and air gauges that are designed to prevent your friend from blowing into the machine.

An ignition interlock device typically costs about $70 to $150 for installation, and about $60 $80 per month for calibration and monitoring. So the proposed Wisconsin OWI bill would increase the financial hardship for a convicted drunk driver. In most states, interlock companies provide interlock devices for offenders who can’t afford them, or states will cover interlock costs for these offenders. Ignition interlock device laws vary by state. Contact a local OWI attorney now to discuss ways to win your OWI case.

Will Self Driving Cars Reduce DUIs?

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Google launched self driving cars in 2010 and they are racking up successful accident-free miles every year. Recently a driverless car traveled from California to New York without incident. In states where it is “illegal” to operate a self driving car, a human had to sit in the driver’s seat to “pretend” to be driving the car. One of the big questions people are asking is, “Will self driving cars reduce DUIs?”

Top DUI attorneys are asking if law enforcement can still charge you with DUI even if you are not driving your driverless car? Of course state law has not addressed this legal issue yet, but self driving cars will be a reality faster than we think. Self driving cars are touted as being safer than human driven cars because the human brain cannot look at and react to every change in driving conditions that occur within a 360 degree radius of the car. In other words, we an’t look left, right, forward, and backward simultaneously, but a self driving car has sensors on every side of the vehicle, and can compute all data and change the car’s path and speed almost immediately.

And a self driving car has zero distractions – it does not text and drive, it does not get tired, it does not drink and drive, and it does not experience road rage. That is why lawmakers and concerned citizen groups like MADD embrace the idea of a driverless car. They expect a huge decrease in DUI-related accidents, something that has yet to be proven.

To be seen is how lawmakers will decide if you can be charged with a DUI if you are only a passive occupant of a self driving car. Almost without doubt, these new driverless cars will have ignition interlock devices that will only start the car if the driver’s blood alcohol content (BAC) is below the legal BAC limit.

Call us TOLL FREE today at 1-844-832-6384 to find the best DUI lawyer in Atlanta or anywhere else in Georgia.

Georgia Administrative License Suspension

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Many DUI arrestees are confused about the fact that their DUI arrest triggered two separate legal actions against them. One is administrative, and one is CRIMINAL. After your DUI arrest, what needs to be addressed first is the administrative license suspension. The consequences of an administrative action against you for DUI refusal is license suspension for one full year, but no further fine or jail time will follow this refusal to be tested.

Once arrested for DUI in Georgia, the arresting officer will immediately read important information from a printed orange card which contains the Georgia implied consent advisement. This is NOT a Miranda warning, which so many DUI drivers expect to hear, once arrested.

The purpose of a Georgia implied consent is to WARN YOU that if you refuse to allow the police to give you breath tests [at the jail or a police precinct] on a breathalyzer called the Intoxilyzer 9000, or go to a hospital and allow police to collect a sample of your blood or your urine (or possibly BOTH) to determine your blood alcohol content or drug content within your blood, then harsh driver’s license consequences will follow.

Because the prosecutor has an easier time getting a DUI conviction when your alcohol level is over the legal limit, the Georgia legislature has authorized this coerced extraction of “bodily contents” (blood, breath or urine). Refusal to allow testing on the OFFICIAL breath, blood or urine test AFTER YOU ARE ARRESTED can mean up to a full year of not being allowed to drive in Georgia.

Georgia implied consent laws carry harsh administrative penalties (not CRIMINAL) as far as loss of your driving privileges. However, Atlanta DUI attorney Bubba Head advises that you pay the $150 filing fee and send this with a written appeal of your ALS suspension to Georgia DDS. This permits a hearing before a Judge (not the same judge as in your criminal case) of the proposed ALS suspension. This MUST be filed within 10 business days.

By making this timely appeal, you extend your right to drive and possibly can have the administrative sanctions on your driving privileges lifted (dismissed), as part of your ALS appeal to DDS Georgia. Any appeal letter MUST be sent by a method of CONFIRMED DELIVERY. This can be U.S. postal service mail, by private courier (FedEX, UPS, etc.) or by hand delivery at DDS headquarters in Conyers, GA. If hand delivery, obtain a receipt from the clerk, showing the receipt of the $150 and the date of delivery. Any delivery option by U.S. mail or private courier must be POSTMARKED (or stamped) on or before the 10th business day to be properly and timely filed.

If you took the State-administered test (or tests) you can also face an administrative driver’s license suspension, but not a TOTAL loss of driving privileges as with the DUI refusal. Depending on your prior DUI arrest history, you may be able to get an immediate work permit. To appeal this type of ALS case, you still need to pay the $150 and file the ALS appeal letter within 10 business days. Any breath, blood test or urine test results may be subject to being THROWN out of court at a pre-trial motion, if you hire one of the best DUI lawyers in Georgia to handle your DUI case.

Be aware that since 2006, in Georgia, if you refuse to submit to implied consent testing, an officer CAN seek a search warrant for your blood or urine, and forcibly collect this BAC evidence in a garden-variety DUI arrest (meaning no accident with injury or death). Judges can hear the officer’s sworn affidavit and issue the warrant electronically. Recent cases from the United States Supreme Court (McNeely) and Georgia Supreme Court (Williams) have made certain types of legal challenges to coerced implied consent tests possible under the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution possible.

https://www.teamdui.com – Call us TOLL FREE today at 1-844-832-6384 to find the best Atlanta DUI lawyer or anywhere else in Georgia.

Georgia DUI Drugs vs. DUI Alcohol

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Driving under the influence is the vernacular for DUI in GA. Other states, like TX, NY and NC call driving under the influence “DWI” (which stands for driving while impaired). The most commonly used acronym is “DUI.” In Georgia, DUI can mean for DUI-alcohol, DUI-drugs, DUI-noxious vapors or DUI-combination of impairing substances. Drunk driving or drugged driving can also be used to describe driving while intoxicated. In Georgia, ANYTHING that can impair your ability to drive is prohibited, and merely having a prescription for drugs or medications found in your system does not give you a “pass.” The quantity of what you have “onboard” at the time of driving is the issue.

Alcohol is — far and away — the number one impairing DRUG. The legal limit for alcohol content in GA for drivers age 21 and over is 0.080 grams percent. For drivers under age 21, the legal limit is 0.020 BAC level, and for a commercial vehicle, CDL drivers are held to a 0.040 BAC level as their legal limit for DUI. The numbers here are provided in three digits because Georgia’s breath testing device is programmed to produce 3-digit readings. Georgia legislation was enacted decades ago, when breath readings were two-digit, and no one has seen fit to modify or correct this lingering anomaly.

Drugs other than alcohol, which are prescribed to a person, but which lead to a DUI arrest and criminal accusation, grows more each year. The reasons for this are many, including physicians over prescribing psychoactive drugs, better drug detection by police officers due to additional training such as ARIDE or DTR/DRE training courses, and a general tendency of most Americans to think that they are entitled to drive after taking powerful prescribed drugs even when they have consumed a drink or two.

All prescription drugs have medically-recognized “therapeutic levels,” and a range of recognized scientific quantitative values. So, taking more than the recommended dose, or mixing any prescribed drugs or over-the-counter drugs with alcohol (which IS A DRUG) can get you arrested. Many prescribed drugs for pain relief, sleep inducement and other medical conditions have potentially lethal doses when too much is taken. Even caffeine has a lethal level.

Additionally, (despite recent changes in limited use of medical marijuana for some people with medical conditions, and general laws in a few states about personal use of marijuana) marijuana users forget cannabis in any form for drivers of vehicles in Georgia is a direct trip to jail. This is a zero tolerance policy. Cheech and Chong would be sitting under the jail in Georgia for marijuana possession and use, in light of the unyielding intolerance for any marijuana use and later driving a vehicle.

Of course, the long list of illegal drugs like marijuana, molly (or other “designer” drugs), cocaine, methamphetamine, crack or heroin cannot be in your bloodstream and you then drive. Impairment is not even an issue if you are found with these illegal substances in your blood. Plus, since most of these types of drugs are not water soluble, the traces of the drugs or the drug’s metabolites remains in your bloodstream for days or even a week or longer.

Other legal challenges may be able to be made by a skilled criminal defense attorney about WHEN the drugs got into your system or HOW the drugs got into your system, but the Legislature has passed a law that says it cannot be in your system and drive. PERIOD.

Also, while drinking too much alcohol or ingesting contraband drugs are clearly prohibited by Georgia DUI laws, legitimately prescribed or over-the counter medications can also get you in trouble. If the medications affect your ability to drive, (and a lot of them do), you could be arrested.

https://www.teamdui.com – Call us TOLL FREE today at 1-844-832-6384 to find the best DUI lawyer in Atlanta or anywhere else in Georgia.

Best GA DUI Lawyer Review

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Yes, It Is Worth Fighting GA DUI Charges!

Pleading guilty to a DUI in Georgia is a lifetime BAD decision. DUI convictions in Georgia are forever. The repercussions and loss of entitlements that follow a DUI conviction are lengthy and harsh. Not talking to a skilled criminal defense attorney and getting legal advice on your chances of winning your DUI is a terrible mistake, especially when almost all criminal attorneys give free consultations.

Many people KNOW they must fight to save their job or their future. These people will be looking for the best DUI Attorney in Georgia, when they have been arrested. At TEAMDUI.com, William C. Head has assembled the top DUI lawyers in Georgia in 20 different city locations. Well-known criminal defense attorney and Atlanta DUI lawyer Bubba Head put together this pre-screened group of dedicated and experienced criminal defense attorneys who focus on alcohol and drug criminal cases. You can open the website and make your own Best DUI Lawyer Review for DUI lawyers in Atlanta GA, Savannah GA, Columbus GA, Augusta GA, Macon GA, Albany GA or any other Georgia city.

Atlanta drunk driving lawyers Bubba Head and Jennifer Ammons created a one-of-a-kind copyrighted GRID for TEAMDUI.com to show all of the consequences and DUI penalties of a DUI conviction. Go here for FULL details: http://www.dui.tv/galaws.pdf. This grid sets forth categories of Georgia DUI criminal penalties and driver’s license consequences of DUI conviction.

When potential DUI clients call our office to ask if it is “worth fighting” the DUI charges, we send this staggering list of negative consequences of a DUI conviction, so that they do not underestimate how a DUI can change their life forever. Learning this vital information AFTER their ill-advised guilty plea is entered creates and impossible situation of trying to UNDO their damaging plea decision, since Georgia law does not allow for such “second guessing” to be done. The guilty plea is FINAL, and is not subject to being expunction (removal from your record).

https://www.teamdui.com – Call us TOLL FREE today at 1-844-832-6384 to find the best DUI lawyer in Atlanta or anywhere else in Georgia.

Uber Breathalyzer Launches

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Uber announces a free breath test
Private car driver service Uber is trying out free public Uber breathalyzer kiosks in Toronto. Potential Uber customers can blow into a breathalyzer to see their blood alcohol content level, or BAC. If you are over the legal limit, Uber offers a free ride home. A disposable straw is provided for each breath test. There is also proposed legislation that will make breathalyzers mandatory in every US vehicle sold. These machines are called ignition interlock devices, and they are mandatory for a lot of DUI repeat offenders, DUI habitual violators, and multiple DUI offenses.

The current legal blood alcohol content level limit in all states is 0.08% for drivers over 21. For underage drivers the BAC limit is overwhelmingly set at 0.02%. If you have a DUI ignition interlock device on your car and you blow over the legal limit, your car will not start. Also, your breath test results will be recorded and passed onto your DUI probation officer.

Tennessee DUI Laws Get Tougher

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The State of Tennessee is clamping down on repeat DUI offenders. A recent bill introduced would deter multiple DUI offenders by stamping the words “No alcohol sales” on their Tennessee driver’s license. State officials are not sure if this measure would deter repeat DUI offenders, but they are trying every means possible to curb Tennessee DUI arrests. The Tennessee Department of Safety estimates that there are 900 convictions for multiple DUIs each year. Each state’s DUI laws are different, so it is very important to hire a Tennessee DUI lawyer who knows the local Tennessee DUI laws, and knows the local DUI judges and DUI prosecutors.

 

After You’re Pulled Over For a DUI

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You’ve been charged with a DUI, and whether you’re guilty or not, such an accusation is certainly cause for concern. Once you’ve been arrested and the charge has been officially made, what should you do next? First, attend to the legal proceedings. Follow these four steps to help you leap this hurdle and get your life back in order.

Step 1: Keep Your Mouth Shut From the Beginning!

Legal Advice Concept

Blabbing about anything after your DUI arrest is a mistake. As your Miranda Rights clearly dictate, “Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.” Even if you think that what you’re saying will help you, remember that words can often be twisted or conveyed differently than intended, so from a legal standpoint, it’s best not to say anything at all until you have a lawyer.

Step 2: Get a Great DUI Lawyer

Fighting a DUI is no simple matter. You’ll probably want a lawyer to help you understand and dispute the charges. In order to successfully fight a DUI charge, you’ll need a thorough understanding of the medical implications of your DUI and your state law, both of which a good lawyer will have. It’s true that you do not need a lawyer to dispute the charge, but having one, or at least consulting with one before the court date, will give you the advantage in your case. To learn more about choosing the right DUI lawyer for you, see this article.

Step 3: Enter Your Not Guilty Plea

After consulting with a good lawyer, you’ll make your plea before a court date is set. You can choose to plead guilty from the beginning, which will most likely make it easier on you if your breathalyzer or chemical test failed spectacularly. However, if you did not take any kind of tests, or if the level of intoxication hovered on the line, you might consider pleading not guilty. A qualified lawyer can help you make this assessment based on his/her understanding of state laws and your specific situation.

Step 4: Follow Your DUI Lawyer’s Suggestions

In most states, your driver’s license will be immediately revoked until the case against you is closed. You’ll need to make arrangements for other forms of transportation during that time and discuss with your lawyer options for getting it back. A DUI can also cause problems with your existing or future employment. A good lawyer and a perfect record from that time forward can help to metaphorically erase those charges and get you back in good standing with your job.

A DUI can put a permanent spot on your record that will follow you for the rest of your life, but if you act quickly and intelligently, you may be able to nip the beginnings of a bad reputation in the bud.

DUI? Make Sure You Find the Right Attorney!

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If you have been arrested for a drunk driving offense like DUI (Driving Under the Influence) or DWI (Driving While Intoxicated), it’s time to start looking for a DUI attorney. Any drunk driving related offense is a very serious matter, and there’s a good chance you could be facing jail time, a suspended license, hefty fines, or a combination of the three—and that’s not even touching on the potential impact on your current work and/or future career prospects. You need to find the right DUI attorney who will fight to protect your rights, seek a reduction of charges, and fight your case in court if needed. We’ve put together a list of attributes to look for when choosing a DUI attorney to represent you.

6 Things to Look for in a DUI/DWI Attorney

dui-attorney-teamdui

1. Must Focus on Criminal Defense & Work Mostly on DUI, DWI, or DUI Drug Cases

Not all lawyers are created equal. DUI is a field where you need experience and specialization. There are many different areas of law, and the best lawyers tend to specialize. So, no matter how good a lawyer is, they can be out of their depth in an area of law that they don’t commonly practice in. Look for an attorney who works in criminal defense and traffic law.

2. Legal Staff Provides Quality Service & Communication

You need to be able to trust your lawyer, and that isn’t possible if they ignore you or pass you off to an inexperienced member of their team. There’s nothing wrong with your attorney utilizing the people they employ, but you should have an experienced lawyer who is in charge of your case and communicates with you on a regular basis.

3. Provides a Written Fee Document That Details the Extent of Representation

Your legal obligations don’t always end when you leave court or make a settlement. Post-trial requirements can be very complicated and carry heavy consequences if they are not strictly adhered to. Because of this, you need to make sure you understand the policies and fees that will apply if you require continued representation. Some questions regarding continued representation include:

  • Will they help you register for any mandated courses?
  • Will they help you file the correct paperwork for a restricted or suspended license?
  • Will they take your case to appeal if needed?

4. Has Experience & Connections in Your Local Court

Different states and municipalities often have very different laws. To be effective in representing you, your lawyer needs to be experienced with the laws and courts where you have been charged. Additionally, a local DUI attorney will have experience with the local judges and prosecution. This can help them pursue the best course of action for your case.

5. Has a Proven, Documented Track Record

You don’t want the new guy on the block to be in charge of your case. Any DUI attorney worth hiring will be able to show you documentation of how they have been able to help other clients. While an attorney “practices” law, you don’t want them practicing on you. You want real, proven experience on your side.

6. Possesses Top Tier Rankings from National & State Attorney Rating Services

Attorney rating services exist to help you find the best lawyer possible. Utilize these services to your advantage to find an attorney who has top tier rankings. The difference between a good lawyer and an okay lawyer can result in very different outcomes to your case.

Hopefully, you’ll never need the services of a DUI attorney. But if you do, having the right attorney on your side can make all the difference. If you need representation in a DUI, DWI, or other drunk driving related case, let TeamDUI.com help you find a DUI attorney in your area.