Three New Orleans-area Men Charged with DUI after Crashing into Patrol Car, What are the Penalties?
New Orleans, LA- A police officer narrowly avoided a head-on collision with a truck traveling the wrong way on Collins Ave. on July 13th around 2:40 a.m.and now three men are facing charges for intoxicated driving.
According to the Picayune Times, a Covington police officer was about to cross the overpass on Claiborne Ave. when he saw a white pickup truck traveling north in the southbound lanes in the two-lane bridge.
The officer reacted quickly and avoided colliding with the truck but, his patrol car crashed into the barrier leading into the overpass. The truck sped past the patrol car as the officer turned his vehicle around and began to pursue the vehicle.
The officer had to call in a state trooper since Covington officers are not allowed to investigate any accidents they are involved in. The officer detained the three men in the truck until trooper arrived.
The Covington Police report stated that the three men inside the truck were “highly intoxicated.” The police report also stated that neither the driver nor his two passengers had a Louisiana driver’s license. The IDs they were carrying were from Honduras; however the vehicle was insured and registered in Louisiana.
Witnesses told police that the men had just left a restaurant on the south side of the overpass, the Times Picayune reported.
The officer was not hurt and the patrol car suffered minor damage.
These three men will soon learn what being charged with DUI in Louisiana entails.
The state of Louisiana requires that drunken drivers spend at least two days in jail or 48 hours of community service if convicted of their first DUI, but some offenders can be sentenced to 6 months in jail. A second DUI offense typically carries a 30-day jail sentence.
The amount of jail time an offender receives is largely dependent on their level of intoxication at the time of arrest. The legal limit in Louisiana is .08. Police determine blood alcohol content with a breathalyzer, but it is no unheard of for these machines to be inaccurate, so a DUI attorney will often challenge the results of this test when building a defense.
The majority of first-time DUI offenders will also have their license suspended for up to 90 days, although an attorney is sometimes able to negotiate with the courts and allow you to retain limited driving privileges.
DUIs can be costly; the minimum fine for a first-offense is $1,000 and that doesn’t take into account legal fees, court costs and skyrocketing insurance premiums an offender faces.
In addition to restricting your freedoms and being very costly a DUI goes onto your record as a criminal charge so it is best to take whatever steps you can take to avoid conviction.
It’s best not to drink and drive, but if you happen to make that mistake then you absolutely need to hire a New Orleans DUI attorney. The will explore all the extenuating circumstances of your arrest begin building your defense immediately. Don’t risk facing the court without legal representation because you may end up regretting that decision.
