Posted: 7/4/2012 8:00:37 AM EDT
| Another thread on here has got me thinking. Can a person be charged with DUI if cutting the grass on his property while drinking? What about driving a golf cart on his own property while drinking? As you can tell, it's a slow day here, just watching the big green egg cooking doing it's thing. |
| DUI can be charged on private property. Ussually isn't going to happen unless someone is making a complete total ass of themselves or if an accident occurs. For example: Get drunk, ride your ATV around drunk and run over a friend and break his legs - enjoy a DUI... |
| You can be charged for DUI anywhere in this state if operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol or drugs to the extent that you are less safe. I bet your scenario doesn't happen often but it's certainly a charge that could be made. That being said, an officer still has to have a legal right to be wherever he is if in fact he wanted to make an arrest but that's a different discussion entirely... |
| What I getting from the answers is that as long as somebody is doing nothing but cutting grass or driving a golf cart while drinking that the police can't/won't make a case. There has to be probable cause for the police to even check for the driver drinking. Correct? |
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Quoted:
What I getting from the answers is that as long as somebody is doing nothing but cutting grass or driving a golf cart while drinking that the police can't/won't make a case. There has to be probable cause for the police to even check for the driver drinking. Correct? At the very least articulable reasonable suspicion. To be very honest, if you don't play stupid games you won't win stupid prizes. I made a private property DUI on a guy 4 wheeling in his pasture but only after he high sided his truck on a stump, busted the oil pan and started a huge grass and vehicle fire. He may have been ok, but the whole "you're trespassing on my land, go f yourself" didn't work well for him. Especially after he called us to help him...if you're gonna be stupid don't invite the man into your life. |
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If I recall correctly, the last private property DUI I made was after somebody called and complained about a guy charging up and down their shared dirt road in an old Blazer. He wouldn't park it, so we had to park him. Gave the guy several chances though. I handed one off to a traffic investigator recently after some guy crashed his 4 wheel utility raptor thing and sent his passenger to the hospital with a serious injury. I am pretty sure DUI was pursued against him.
But if I'm cruising and I see some guy drinking a beer on his mower and he is not doing anything wrong, I'm not going to mess with him! |
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Stupidest arrest I ever made was DUI on a riding mower in the guy's own lawn.
I was working morning watch and got dispatched to a noise complaint at about 0300hrs. Turns out 2 neighbors were having a feud. One neighbor was drunker than a bicycle and decided to mow his lawn at 3am to annoy his neighbor. He had a really nice mower with headlights on it. I had him shut the mower off and go inside. I told him if we had to come back out for this kind of silly BS, I would have to arrest him for violation of the noise ordinance and DUI. He stated that I couldn't do it. I told him that I surely did not want to do it, but that I would if I had to. Not 20 minutes later we had to go back out there. Guy had several more beers and was now drunker than a boiled owl. He had crawled back on the mower and commenced to mowing his lawn. I placed him under arrest for the 2 charges I had warned him about. I got ragged on pretty good from my buddies on the shift, but I had no choice at that point. Arrested a guy at American Adventures for DUI on the go-kart track. He was about 40YOA and ramming the go-karts of the 10 year old kids on the track. When the 15YOA kid "running" the track ordered him off the track, he cussed him out and threatened him. I got there just in time to see 3 dad's pull him off the go-kart and begin to whoop his ass. He went to jail for DUI and multiple counts of disorderly conduct. If I remember correctly, he was HV (Habitual Violator) as well. If you have been declared HV by the state (usually after multiple DUI convictions) then it is a felony for you to operate a motor vehicle. Can't remember if I could charge him for HV on a go-kart on private property. |
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Quoted:
Stupidest arrest I ever made was DUI on a riding mower in the guy's own lawn. I was working morning watch and got dispatched to a noise complaint at about 0300hrs. Turns out 2 neighbors were having a feud. One neighbor was drunker than a bicycle and decided to mow his lawn at 3am to annoy his neighbor. He had a really nice mower with headlights on it. I had him shut the mower off and go inside. I told him if we had to come back out for this kind of silly BS, I would have to arrest him for violation of the noise ordinance and DUI. He stated that I couldn't do it. I told him that I surely did not want to do it, but that I would if I had to. Not 20 minutes later we had to go back out there. Guy had several more beers and was now drunker than a boiled owl. He had crawled back on the mower and commenced to mowing his lawn. I placed him under arrest for the 2 charges I had warned him about. I got ragged on pretty good from my buddies on the shift, but I had no choice at that point. Arrested a guy at American Adventures for DUI on the go-kart track. He was about 40YOA and ramming the go-karts of the 10 year old kids on the track. When the 15YOA kid "running" the track ordered him off the track, he cussed him out and threatened him. I got there just in time to see 3 dad's pull him off the go-kart and begin to whoop his ass. He went to jail for DUI and multiple counts of disorderly conduct. If I remember correctly, he was HV (Habitual Violator) as well. If you have been declared HV by the state (usually after multiple DUI convictions) then it is a felony for you to operate a motor vehicle. Can't remember if I could charge him for HV on a go-kart on private property. shoulda taken your sweet time to break it up. drunk 'tards deserve everything they get, and usually more. |
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Quoted:
Stupidest arrest I ever made was DUI on a riding mower in the guy's own lawn. I was working morning watch and got dispatched to a noise complaint at about 0300hrs. Turns out 2 neighbors were having a feud. One neighbor was drunker than a bicycle and decided to mow his lawn at 3am to annoy his neighbor. He had a really nice mower with headlights on it. I had him shut the mower off and go inside. I told him if we had to come back out for this kind of silly BS, I would have to arrest him for violation of the noise ordinance and DUI. He stated that I couldn't do it. I told him that I surely did not want to do it, but that I would if I had to. Not 20 minutes later we had to go back out there. Guy had several more beers and was now drunker than a boiled owl. He had crawled back on the mower and commenced to mowing his lawn. I placed him under arrest for the 2 charges I had warned him about. I got ragged on pretty good from my buddies on the shift, but I had no choice at that point. Arrested a guy at American Adventures for DUI on the go-kart track. He was about 40YOA and ramming the go-karts of the 10 year old kids on the track. When the 15YOA kid "running" the track ordered him off the track, he cussed him out and threatened him. I got there just in time to see 3 dad's pull him off the go-kart and begin to whoop his ass. He went to jail for DUI and multiple counts of disorderly conduct. If I remember correctly, he was HV (Habitual Violator) as well. If you have been declared HV by the state (usually after multiple DUI convictions) then it is a felony for you to operate a motor vehicle. Can't remember if I could charge him for HV on a go-kart on private property. I enjoy reading your posts, but your descriptions are cracking me up. |
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FYI 40-6-391 does not say motor vehicle it says moving....It could be a horse.  So lets say you and a few buddies go out drinking and they drop you off at your car so you can head home but you feel over the influence to drive and decide to sleep it off. Could you get a DUI if you are in your car sleeping, intoxicated, and in possession of your keys? I heard that you could get a DUI if you are in your car with possession of your keys but parked at a 24hr open place like walmart or waffle house. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
Stupidest arrest I ever made was DUI on a riding mower in the guy's own lawn. I was working morning watch and got dispatched to a noise complaint at about 0300hrs. Turns out 2 neighbors were having a feud. One neighbor was drunker than a bicycle and decided to mow his lawn at 3am to annoy his neighbor. He had a really nice mower with headlights on it. I had him shut the mower off and go inside. I told him if we had to come back out for this kind of silly BS, I would have to arrest him for violation of the noise ordinance and DUI. He stated that I couldn't do it. I told him that I surely did not want to do it, but that I would if I had to. Not 20 minutes later we had to go back out there. Guy had several more beers and was now drunker than a boiled owl. He had crawled back on the mower and commenced to mowing his lawn. I placed him under arrest for the 2 charges I had warned him about. I got ragged on pretty good from my buddies on the shift, but I had no choice at that point. Arrested a guy at American Adventures for DUI on the go-kart track. He was about 40YOA and ramming the go-karts of the 10 year old kids on the track. When the 15YOA kid "running" the track ordered him off the track, he cussed him out and threatened him. I got there just in time to see 3 dad's pull him off the go-kart and begin to whoop his ass. He went to jail for DUI and multiple counts of disorderly conduct. If I remember correctly, he was HV (Habitual Violator) as well. If you have been declared HV by the state (usually after multiple DUI convictions) then it is a felony for you to operate a motor vehicle. Can't remember if I could charge him for HV on a go-kart on private property. I enjoy reading your posts, but your descriptions are cracking me up. I would guess you'd have to get the owl pretty damn drunk for him to climb into the pot . . .
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I mentioned in another post regarding ccw, that this is exactly why I got mine, not to carry all the time, but because you get different answers from different people, including cops.
I asked several recently a hypothetical question; is it illegal for your 15yr old with a valid learner's license to drive you home if you had too much to drink? I even opened it up further than that and asked if you could just be asleep, not even intoxicated, like letting the 15yr old drive down the interstate while you napped. Everything I have found on a learner's permit just says that they must have someone over 21 with a valid license, sitting in the front seat next to them. I can't find anything where it says that person must be coherent, sober, awake, etc. When I asked 6 cops about this, every one of them started out by saying "well it's not a smart thing.." and I stopped them and said "yes, it may not be a 'smart" thing, but is it legal?" and 5 out of the 6 said they didn't know. The 6th, a retired GSP, originally said the same thing, and that he didn't think it was illegal, that it was a gray area of the law, and that he would let someone drive off in this particular circumstance, but then came back later stating that it would in fact be illegal and cited something about the state of the adult and that it could be prosecuted, I don't remember the code he cited though, it was last year and we were discussing it on Facebook, which is even harder to search than arfcom. |