need help with alcoholic brother?

Question

My brother is a bad alcoholic. Well last night his friend drove his car and crashed it in a ditch and they walked home. His friend left. Cops found the car and came to his house. When they got there he said wait, let me put my dog in the cage, the cop busted in, the dog attacked the cop. He got the dog off the cop and put him in a cage. Then he went into the bathroom to brush his teeth, cop said what are you doing, he said brushing my teeth, cop asked why, he said personal f**king hygiene, dont you have any? Cop cuffed him, took him to jail. He refused breathalizer and denied driving, they couldnt hold him so took him home. This is in Ohio. What do you think will happen to the dog and what can I do to get him to stop drinking?

me and my family need to do something before he kills himself or someone else. Is there any legal way to force him to clean up?

Answer 1

First of all, the dog is completly irrelevent in this scenario. Why people are commenting on the dog is beyond me. Who cares about the dog, the cops rights, brushing teeth, blah blah blah. The police officers suspecting a crime had been commited have the right to come into the home for more than one reason. Someone could have been hurt or killed and your brother destroying evidence. Second, they believed a crime was commited and your brother the perpetrator, they can come in uninvited. If your brother is drinking and driving and you suspect a alcohol problem, who cares about the minor details.

Your brother will not and can not quit until he wants to. I have mixed feelings about court mandated Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. I am a sober member of Alcoholics Anonymous and also a police officer. The program saved my life, my career, my marriage and more than likely, the life of someone else. I was a chronic drinker and then always drove. Why I never hurt myself or others is beyond me. But, praise God!!!

Forget about the dog, the search warrant and all the other trivial stuff that ultimately wont matter when your brother is dead or in prison for killing someone. Encourage him to look at his drinking patterns and the problems alcohol causes in his life. Suggest rehab or Alcoholics Anonymous. Find another alcoholic in the program that may talk to him.

Do something quick before it is too late and your writing questions about manslaughter laws or casket prices!!

http://www.alcoholics-anonymous.org/en_find_meeting.cfm

Answer 2

I don't know about the dog.. seems to me that if they were going to do anything to the dog, they would have done it that night.. so the dog is probably safe...- I don't know about Ohio, but here if you refuse a breathalyzer you automatically lose your license.. so after this he may not have a license... also as far as getting your brother to quit drinking.. he's going to have to want to stop himself.. I was with an alcoholic for 7 years.. after 2 DUIs he still wouldn't quit drinking.. we moved out of state to get him away from all his alcoholic friends and then he just drank by himself.. he always said he would quit but never did.. it would last 2 weeks to a month and he was back drinking everyday after work.. finally after 7 years I couldn't take it... I left him hoping that would make him stop realizing I'm not going to be there forever and then he just found himself an alcoholic and we never got back together- I guess he found someone that wasn't going to complain about his drinking.. last year I got a call from his gf asking me what she should do about him. I just said good luck and hung up..... the only way he is going to quit is if he hits rock bottom and realizes how drinking affects his life

Answer 3

That's quite a story. Without a search warrant, or being invited in, the cop should not have entered the house. Dog is fine in this situation, cop should have waited.

As far as drinking problem, first he has to admit he has a problem, and seek help from a local counseling group, or AA, or something like that. If he's not willing to admit there is a problem, there isn't going to be much you can do for him.

Answer 4

Ok Lets talk about the case scenario. There were no witnesses to the crash and nobody could defenitly put him as a the driver of the vehicle. Your brother needs to refuse all questions and requests from the police. They are going to file the DUI charges on him because of the refusal but they will need extremem circumstancial evidence to prove that. Your brother should of just said nothing to the cops.

Answer 5

Hey, at least the dog attacked the cop.

Sounds like your bro does indeed have some issues though. For one, I'd be a bit skeptical that his friend was really the one driving. But there's not a whole lot you can do for true addicts. Generally speaking, they have to get so low that there's no alternative to quitting besides death. And even if they reach that crisis and decide to quit, the best they can do is the AA "one day at a time" thing, which seems to me a pretty miserable and pathetic way to live, in daily fear that you'll relapse. Good luck though, my best to your bro. Hope he gets some sense.

Answer 6

First of all you should talk to your sister and make sure he is not abusive to her or her child. She may be afraid to stand up to him. He needs help or she needs to get out of the relationship! It's not healthy for her or her child. Does the family get along with your brother-in-law when he is sober? If so now is the time to act! Talk to him when he is sober about the incident. Stay calm and tell him you are concerned. Have your family members talk with him too. Alcoholics need help to stop drinking and if you attack him it will only make it worse. Don't wait and don't just let it pass! If he is violent towards your family he is most likely violent towards your sister. Don't let her or her child become another statistic!!

Answer 7

I have 3 alcoholic brothers...

This sounds typical...

Only a drunk would believe that brushing his teeth would help him pass a breathalyzer test... LOL... that's funny.

But anyway. Nothing you can do to help a lost soul. They either have got to want to be treated or you have got to cut them out like a cancer.

People with these tendencies, will infect everyone around them. It is an immature souls way of SHOWING BY EXAMPLE how they themselves feel inside by doing things to hurt themselves.
It is a manipulative and unfeeling human being that does this. But this is usually not the persons normal behavior... Alcoholics usually need the alcohol in order to BECOME this monster.

It is a vicious cycle they get trapped in and trap everyone else in as well...


and will continue to do this as long as they lack the skills to heal themselves and stop thinking more of themselves than they do of the love they take advantage of in the people who love them.

Have an intervention. Treatment will probably be one of the only ways out of going to jail anyway.

Good luck!

Answer 8

Well, if he told them he wanted to cage the dog, and they were attacked inside the house, then the dogs is probably going to be okay. Most of the time you can have a "violent" dog as long as you can control it. And the fact that it was in the house shows it was controlled and not in public. As far as your brother, you need to convince him he needs help. Alcoholics usually only get help when they are truly convinced they need it. Make sure he understands that because of his actions, he almost went to jail.

Answer 9

The dog will be taken to the humaine society for obsevation, and if it is proven to be a vicious animal, it ill be destroyed.
Your brother can be charged with the alcohol related charges and the crash..not to mention he might also be charged with assault on a police officer because of the dog.
It might be best for you to let the law deal with your brother, get him incarcerated and to rehab to dry out.
Forced socriety might be the only solution..he will have time to get the help he needs to want to live a sober lifestyle and he will not have any access to alcohol.
Best of luck to you, and hopefully the law gets him the help he needs. Sometimes its best to step back and just give him your love and support through it all.

Answer 10

First of all -- if the dog did bite the officer - -then the dog should be already in some form of custody as well -- and being tested for rabies/diseases.

Secondly -- YOU and YOUR FAMILY can do NOTHING for him UNTIL he CHOOSES to ACKNOWLEDGE and Take RESPONSIBILITY for his ALCOHOLISM.

This means TOUGH LOVE -- you ALL have to STOP propping him up -- no money, no accepting calls from jail, no bailing him out of trouble, no paying his bills, no taking any calls, no more trying to help when he gets in trouble at all.

YOUR brother MUST choose -- and it sounds like he really NEEDS to be in REHAB programs at this time. But HE MUST CHOOSE -- you or your family can NOT do it for him. He must take RESPONSIBILITY for his alcoholism -- and continue in treatment with a 12 step program (like AA).