can they charge you with a DUI if your car is broken down and you are pushing it?

Question

my husband was pushing my car off the train tracks when a cop pulled up and arrested him for a DUI. He told the cop the driver left and he didn't want to car to get messed up. She still arrested him for driving even though she did not see him. Can he beat that case so he can go into the Army national gaurd and how? please help

Answer 1

Were the keys in the ignition?


You need to hire an attorney to fight the case if he was truly wronged.

Answer 2

The first thing you have to keep in mind is that police officers hear BS exscuses like that all the time. Was there any evidence of another driver?

More to the point, your husband can still be charged with a DUI, even if the officer didn'r see him; because, if your husband was intoxicated and the vehicle broke down on the tracks, the only way that is possible is if the vehicle was driven.

Even assuming there was another person involved your husband had the misfortune of being there when the police showed up so to a certain extent it's a moot point.

Answer 3

In some states you only need to be "in control" of a vehicle to be cited for DUI, and that includes sleeping in the back seat with the keys in your pocket, let alone moving the car.

On the other hand, I did see one conviction in Boston overturned on appeal where the defendant claimed the driver ran away after crashing into a house and she was only sitting in the car drunk and it was still running. The court ruled that there was no "driving on a public way" witnessed by the police, so she was ruled not guilty as a matter of law.

Answer 4

I was told by a Florida State Trooper that in order to get charged with a DUI you have to be in the vehicle. As long as he isn't in the vehicle he can't be charged per what the state trooper told me so. I guess it is worth fighting to find out.

Answer 5

I'd claim that I had nothing to drink, pushed my broken-down car off the tracks, then opened the trunk, drank a half pint of of whiskey to calm my nerves and then threw the bottle away. The worst they can get your husband for is public drunkeness.

Answer 6

I knew somebody that got a DUI for riding a bicycle

Answer 7

If the car broke down and he is the only one seen pushing the car, this is sufficient evidence to show he was the driver of the car. The officer does not need to see you drive the car to arrest you for DUI and in this particular case there is sufficient evidence to suspect your husband was driving the vehicle. The only way he can win this case is to have the actual driver of the car, if it was not him, step up and and say that they were driving the car.

Answer 8

This seems a bit ridiculous to me but then again I wasn't there so I don't know. I would suggest fighting it since the worst thing that can happen is that he has to pay the penalty for DUI, whatever it happens to be in your area.

Answer 9

i agree with half of MSI. it is a reasonable inference that he was the only one there, he was drunk, he was pushing the car he must have intended to drive it.

And if a jury beleives that he is guilty. One way to defeat the charge would be to ge the other person to admit what happened, but it the jury beleives your husband with out the other person he is not guilty, the jury will determine the crediblity of the witnesses.

Answer 10

Only if the keys where in the ignition can he be arrasted for DUI. If you need legal support try the site below. I wish you the best of luck on this case.

Answer 11

Okay if your husband hadn't been driving, who was driving??? And why on earth would they have left the car??? They would have been IN the car steering or helping to push. This story doesn't make any sense. The cop did the right thing.