Below are some important real world examples of how police and law enforcement have over reached their powers in enforcing DUI laws. They are important to read in understanding how to deal with your recent DUI.

The examples below come from an article provided by Justin McShane, Attorney at Law, in the State of Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania Takes the War on DUI Too Far 

(Read Article Here)

Woman in wheelchair charged with DUI in Cumberland County

Middlesex Township police have charged a woman riding a motorized wheelchair with driving under the influence of alcohol following an incident early this morning. Police said Connie Lebo, 63, was riding around the Country Manor mobile home park while intoxicated. While the park is private property, police have an agreement with the owner to enforce traffic laws there.

Police said they first received a report of a woman crawling around a yard in the mobile home park at 4:23 a.m. When they arrived, Lebo was sitting in her motorized wheelchair and appeared drunk, police said. She told the police she had crashed the wheelchair, police said.

Her blood alcohol level was .16, twice the legal limit for driving, police said.

Police said it is rare to charge someone in a wheelchair with DUI, but they have charged people riding bicycles, horses and lawnmowers.

While some people might find this funny, or file this under “odd news,” this story represents a real life person, who can’t walk, getting wrongfully victimized by the police. Not only does this case smack in the face of common sense and overall moral decency, the VICTIM has been humiliated and must now pay significant legal fees to defend her name because some police officer charged her with a DUI. If she was truly publicly intoxicated or causing a nuisance, then there are laws associated with that type of violation, but riding a motorized wheelchair on one’s own property should never be a DUI.

While people may poke fun at cases like these, it is a sad commentary on what our society has come to in the name of DUI enforcement. Pennsylvania has become a police state and where cops can violate your civil rights without any retribution; that’s not very funny.

How States in the USA are Becoming “Police States”

Under the guise of  DUI Checkpoints, police are literally stopping cars to check if you’re a criminal or not.  Not only is this an invasion of our privacy, but in our opinion, this practice is entirely unconstitutional.  Here is a review of some of the laws related to DUI Checkpoints: 

• Under the Fourth Amendment ,it is unconstitutional to randomly stop and search someone.  A police officer must have probable cause that a crime was committed in order to conduct a search.

   

• A DUI checkpoint is a violation of the Fourth Amendment because there is no probable cause to stop every motorist.  However, The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that since the intrusion is minimal (we hold that this intrusion is NOT minimal), DUI checkpoints can be conducted for the overall objective of reducing DUI. (See Michigan Department of State Police v. Sitz)

The Supreme Court ruled that these stops can be conducted for DUI enforcement purposes.  The problem here is that police departments are setting up DUI checkpoint all over the United States and stopping people to check first if they are criminals.As a result, police departments are arresting people for all types of violations that have nothing whatsoever to do with DUI.  In fact if you look at most of the headlines for DUI checkpoints they actually arrest SIGNIFICANTLY LESS DUI offenders than they do all sorts of other criminal offenders (e.g., people with outstanding warrants, drugs, and other traffic or equipment citations). Now, police NO LONGER NEED probable cause to stop and search you and charge you with a crime or issue a citation that has nothing to do with DUI.