Tag: dui

Arizona Court Says Marijuana Users Must Actually Be Impaired To Be Punished For DUI

The state can’t suspend someone’s driver’s license because they have THC in their bloodstream unless they are actually impaired while behind the wheel, the Arizona Court of Appeals ruled, upholding a provision in a marijuana legalization law that voters passed in 2020.

Aaron Kirsten was pulled over for speeding in Sedona in October 2022, and the police officer saw that he had bloodshot eyes, slurred speech and was unsteady on his feet. Kirsten refused a field sobriety test, but when he did a breathalyzer test, he blew a 0.083, slightly above the legal limit, and he was arrested.

While in custody, Kirsten consented to a blood draw, but the Department of Public Safety’s analysis showed his blood alcohol content was just 0.063, less than the 0.08 maximum BAC allowed under state law.

But DPS also tested Kirsten’s blood for drugs and found he had tetrahydrocannabinol metabolites. As a result, the Arizona Department of Transportation suspended his license for 90 days, citing a state law that bars driving if THC metabolites are present.

At an administrative appeal, Kirsten testified that he hadn’t consumed THC in the 24 hours prior to his arrest, and any effects from the THC he had consumed had long ago passed. A family member who is a nurse and chiropractor also testified on Kirsten’s behalf, telling the administrative law judge that THC metabolites—the compounds that form as the body breaks down a substance—can stay in the blood for weeks after consumption.

But the administrative law judge said it was “irrelevant” whether Kirsten had smoked marijuana within 24 hours of his arrest and sided with ADOT, ruling that the agency didn’t need to prove he was impaired by THC to suspend his license for using it previously.

Kirsten appealed the ruling to the Maricopa County Superior Court, which upheld the administrative judge’s reasoning.

But the appellate court said both got it wrong and effectively ignored voter-created laws that bars the state from punishing drivers who have legally used marijuana products but are not impaired while driving.

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A 5th Albuquerque Cop Resigns Amid Widening DWI Corruption Scandal

Another Albuquerque police officer resigned last week amid a widening scandal involving cops who allegedly conspired with a local defense attorney to make drunk driving cases disappear in exchange for payoffs. Joshua Montaño, who had been employed by the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) for 19 years, is the fifth officer to quit after being placed on administrative leave. His March 20 resignation letter, which City Desk ABQ obtained through a public records request, sheds light on the extent of the alleged corruption within the APD’s DWI unit, the subject of an ongoing FBI investigation as well as an APD probe.

“When I was put on administrative leave, I thought there would be an opportunity for me to talk to the department about what I knew regarding the FBI’s investigation,” writes Montaño, who missed several scheduled interviews with APD investigators prior to his resignation. “I thought there would be a time [when] I could disclose what I knew from within APD and how the issues I let myself get caught up in within the DWI Unit were generational. I thought there would be a time where I could talk about all the other people who should be on administrative leave as well, but aren’t.”

Montaño says he ultimately decided against cooperating with APD investigators. “In order for me to talk to the City about what I knew,” he writes, “I needed to not be the City’s scapegoat for its own failures.” He complains that Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina, who has promised to “make sure that we get to the bottom of this” but is himself under investigation for causing a February 17 accident that severely injured a driver whose car he broadsided, “has made it seem like there are just a few bad officers acting on their own.” That is “far from the truth,” Montaño says.

Among other things, the FBI reportedly is investigating claims that officers deliberately missed court dates, resulting in the dismissal of DWI cases. But according to Montaño, “officers all know that our attendance, or non-attendance, at Court is watched over and monitored.” While “I take responsibility for my actions,” he says, the responsibility for the alleged misconduct extends up the chain of command and more than a few years back in time.

Medina “has made numerous public statements concerning APD’s knowledge of the FBI’s investigation of various APD personnel and made commitments to complete parallel investigations,” Montaño’s lawyer, Thomas Grover, writes in a separate letter to the department. “However, as is evident in the investigations of Ofc. Montano, the department responded to the FBI’ s inquiries in a manner that is haphazard at best and artificial at worst.”

Although Montaño wanted to share “his knowledge of how widespread the issues of concern to the FBI are, how far up the supervisory chain they go, and other personnel they involve,” Grover says, he “could not provide such a statement because of the myriad of deficiencies APD plagued its investigations of him, and presumably others, with. From procedural errors concerning notice requirements to police officers, to timeline violations by APD, it seems at every turn, the department could not follow basic practices for internal affairs investigations.”

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New Jersey cop rushed to help Bob Menendez’s wife after Mercedes crash despite being retired and convinced patrolman on duty to let her go without a sobriety test or having to hand over her phone

A top New Jersey cop rushed to be by Bob Menendez’s wife’s side after she killed a man with her Mercedes in a 2018 crash, and quizzed the patrolmen on scene until she was allowed to walk away without a sobriety test or having to hand over her phone. 

Menendez’s wife Nadine Arslanian fatally struck 49-year-old Richard Koop in Bogota, New Jersey, on December 12, 2018. She was dating the New Jersey Democratic Senator at the time but they were not yet married. They are now both charged with felony bribery and corruption crimes. 

After the 2018 crash, Bogota Police rushed to the scene of the crash to quiz Arslanian. 

She told them Hoop had been jaywalking and put himself in the path of her car. 

Also there was Michael Mordaga, the former director of Hackensack Police and an ex-chief of detectives in the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office, according to The New York Post. 

Mordaga is the man who can be heard asking the patrolmen if they took a statement from Arslanian.

‘That’s my buddy’s wife who’s friends with her. 

He said could you do me a favor and take her up there because her friend just got in a car accident,’ he said, explaining why he’d shown up, before asking: ‘Are you guys getting a statement that you’re going to give to the prosecutor’s office?’ 

The cops let Arslanian walk away from the scene without a sobriety test or giving over her phone records. 

She was never charged, and was later gifted a new convertible Mercedes to replace the vehicle that was damaged in the crash. 

According to federal charging documents, about a month after the crash, Arslanian texted Wael Hana, an Egyptian American businessman also indicted in the bribery scheme, lamenting her lack of a car.

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California cop who won award for ‘most DUI arrests’ is arrested for DUI

A Sacramento police officer arrested for driving under the influence had previously been given an award for arresting drunk drivers, KCRA 3 reported Wednesday.

Raymond Barrantes was arrested last weekend after California Highway Patrol pulled him over. He has since been bailed out of the San Joaquin County Jail.

According to the report, the West Sacramento Police Department confirmed that in 2015, Barrantes was given an award by the national organization Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), along with a Facebook post with the caption that Barrantes and another officer had “the most DUI arrests for our Agency in 2014.”

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New Law Mandates Interlocks on All New Cars, but Drunk Driving Tech Isn’t Ready Yet

Buried deep on Page 135 of a $1 trillion spending bill that mainly adds EV charging infrastructure is a small provision that could make a big deal for automakers. Passed last year, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act asks that within three years, new cars would be equipped with drunk-driving deterrents automakers don’t yet know how to comply with. 

As reported by Automotive News, the technology to passively detect if drivers may be drunk could be years away, although efforts are underway to offer the tech as soon as 2026. 

“To be honest, I think it took everybody by surprise, not only in our company, but at all the OEMs and Tier 1’s that this legislation appeared,” Mike Franchy, North American director of supplier Asahi Kasei told Automotive News. 

His company is working on a detector like a breathalyzer to monitor the ethyl alcohol content in the driver’s breath. Similar to an interlock device already on the market, the system could be embedded in a door or steering column. Interlocks on cars have been around for several years and cost thousands to purchase or can be leased for $100 or more per month. Smaller breathalyzer systems are available and can cost as little as $50, although those are portable machines that can’t disable a car’s ignition. Researchers say they may have systems to detect blood-alcohol levels via touch soon, although it’s unclear when that could be available. 

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Head of Congressional Ethics Office Arrested, Charged with DUI After Crashing Car Into House

The guy who has been in charge of the congressional ethics office for the past 12 years is an alcoholic who crashed his car into someone’s house while driving under the influence.

Omar Ashmawy, the head of the Congressional Ethics Office, was arrested and charged with a DUI last month, according to an exclusive report by Yahoo News published on Thursday.

Ashmway was suspended after crashing into a stop sign, hitting a parked car and plowing into the front porch of a house while drunk.

The criminal complaint was filed in a Pike County, Pennsylvania court.

“I’ve had some medical issues including a diagnosis of syncope that I am dealing with in this case, but this incident was a wake-up call to me that I have a problem with alcohol dependency,” Ashmawy said in a statement to Yahoo News. “I’ve since sought out treatment for my use of alcohol, and I’m currently in a program where I am addressing this dependency. I’m grateful for the continued support of my family, friends and colleagues.”

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Infrastructure Bill to Require ‘Breathalyzer’-Style Systems in All Cars by 2026

Automakers will be required to install ‘breathalyzer’-style systems in all new cars starting in 2026 as part of the trillion-dollar infrastructure bill.

The Transportation Department will be tasked with developing the new technology automakers will be forced to install on vehicles.

The system must “passively monitor the performance of a driver of a motor vehicle to accurately identify whether that driver may be impaired,” according to the broadly-written legislation.

It may not entail blowing into a tube, but the system could involve something even more Orwellian: infrared cameras that track and monitor driver behavior.

“That technology is already being installed by automakers such as General Motors, BMW, and Nissan to track driver attentiveness while using partially automated driver-assist systems,” according to the AP. “The cameras make sure a driver is watching the road, and they look for signs of drowsiness, loss of consciousness, or impairment.”

Ostensibly, the “driver behavior” monitoring system could expanded later on for “carbon tax” enforcement, such as charging drivers who drive too fast, for example.

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Michigan Democrat state representative threatens police budget, vows to call ‘Gretchen’ during DUI arrest

Dashcam footage was released Sunday showing Michigan Democrat state Representative Jewell Jones resisting arrest after driving into a ditch on the side of a road while intoxicated.

The Michigan State Police dashcam footage shows the April 6, 2021 arrest Rep. Jones, 26, of Inkster after crashing his SUV into a ditch along I-96 near Fowlerville, the Post Millennial reported.

The officer repeatedly asks Jones for his ID and driver’s license, to which Jones replies, “Take your hand off me. I’ll give you my stuff, take your hand off me. I got you.”

“Can I get my phone first?” asks Jones. The officer replies no, and Jones then states that he would not provide his ID.

Police then proceed to take down Jones. According to WDIV 4, state police had to use a Taser twice as well as pepper spray to get him under control. “Stop resisting,” the officers can repeatedly be heard saying in the footage.

“I’m telling you if you do that, that’s not going to be good. It’s not going to be good for you. I’m telling you. I run yall’s budget bro,”Jones threatened officers while on the ground.

He repeatedly said once on the ground that he would cooperate if they took their hands off him, but continued to resist arrest. “I’m being abused by a f***ing police officer, I’m black… When I call Gretchen, I’ll need y’all IDs and badge numbers, everything,” Jones continued.

One clip of the Livingston County Police footage from WXYZ, Jones asks officers while in a police cruiser to call the Director of the Michigan State Police Col. Joseph Gasper. “Tell Joe who you got, and call f***ing Joe. I’m not sure he’s up or not. If he’s not up, wake him up. Tell Joe who you have, tell Joe who you have handcuffed.”

Jones reportedly had a blood-alcohol content of 0.19 percent, more than twice the legal limit, and had a gun in his cup holder.

At one point, Jones asks deputies to take him to his home or to the Inkster Police Department, where he is an auxiliary officer, WXYZ reported.

“I can give you my address. You can drop me off at the crib,” he said. “You can drop me off at the station. I don’t give a (expletive), bro. You just let me know what you wanna do.”

Instead, Jones spent the night at the Livingston County Jail.

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