Seattle Criminal Defense Lawyer | One Can’t Be Too Alert if One Drink and Drive

I am continuously prompt to highlight to individuals that, converse to accepted certainty, it is not criminal to drink and drive. It is, nonetheless, against the law to drive while you are excessively impaired by alcohol to drive. That is when a DUI occurs. But at what time is that boundary crossed? And how can you discern when you are extremely intoxicated to drive? It is practically an ridiculous determination to make, but is something you must reflect about each instance you drink and after that determine to drive home.

For example, let’s say you are out having a couple of cocktails following work with a few friends in Bellevue following work. Ultimately you resolve to go home, and you think to yourself “I’m absolutely all right to drive back home.” You have the green light so you remain on your way. Then, BAM, a sports car broadsides you, running a red light.

As you gather yourself and make certain nothing is cracked, you begin to recognize what just happened. And next you hear the sirens of cops and ambulances. You get out of your sedan and hang around for the cops to get there. Once they pull in, the officer asks, “have you had something to drink tonight?” “Yes,” you inform the cop, “but just a couple of cocktails over the course of a couple of hours.”

But it’s too late. The officer has already jumped into cop mode, which frequently involves making decisions and afterward filling in the details to fit what he wants to distinguish. Do you possess watery bloodshot eyes? Is your face flushed? Would you mind taking some field sobriety tests? And at that moment you are fighting for your own freedom, notwithstanding the fact that someone else carelessly ran the red light and hit you, and you must be on the cell phone to your Seattle criminal defense attorney.

The lesson to be learned here? In addition to knowing your civil rights as a resident, know that at any instance events out of your control could have a enormous effect on your future moving forward. If you do determine to drink and drive, make positive you are not too impaired to function a car, appreciate your constitutional rights, and if you are ever in doubt, call a criminal attorney in Seattle as soon as you possibly can.