Police Charge Amish Man With DUI
Police in central Pennsylvania say they arrested an Amish man on drunk driving charges over the weekend after he was found asleep in his moving buggy.
Really, WTF? Let’s start with some logic; I’m not sure of Pennsylvania DUI laws and I’m too fucking lazy to look it up, but most states specify ‘motor-vehicle’ as a requirement for DWI/DUI. For example, generally, you can’t get a DWI/DUI on a bicycle or skateboard. In addition, although the story doesn’t say so, I’m assuming the horse wasn’t drunk.
Update: Well, what do you fucking know. The legislature in PA is fucking retarded.
From here:
Section 3802. Driving under influence of alcohol or controlled substance.
(a) General impairment.(1) An individual may not drive, operate or be in actual physical control of
the movement of a vehicle after imbibing a sufficient amount of alcohol such
that the individual is rendered incapable of safely driving, operating or being in
actual physical control of the movement of the vehicle.
(2) An individual may not drive, operate or be in actual physical control of
the movement of a vehicle after imbibing a sufficient amount of alcohol such
that the alcohol concentration in the individual’s blood or breath is at least .08%
but less than .10% within two hours after the individual has driven, operated or
been in actual physical control of the movement of the vehicle.
And then they appear to fail to define ‘vehicle’. So, essentially, you can be arrested for DUI on a fucking skateboard in Pennsylvania.
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Pennsylvania is what I call a vortex state. Weird shit is lawful, sane shit is never considered. It’s a red state that almost always goes blue, for crying out loud.
Sounds like Boss Hogg is in charge of raising revenue for the great state of Pennsylvania. He musta moved north after getting too much grief from the damned Duke boys.
I thought that was one of the premier advantages to the horse-n-buggy: you could tie one on and then just let your horse take you home?
That’s kinda the way I always looked at it. I’m pretty sure the horse was sober.
And technically the horse was in control of the buggy, right?
Since PA has a large Amish community they may have written the law as such. The horse is pulling the the buggy but the man is driving the buggy, if he pulls the reigns in a way the leads the horse say to the left side of the road the horse will go. A horse is not a small animal and if the driver leads it into a car, that car is going to be damaged and such.
While I find the idea of an Amish man being arrested on a DUI humorous I think that the officers were right in doing so.
whether the buggy is considered a “motor vehicle” or not is one issue. But couldnt he still get a ticket/arrested for being drunk in public? I know people get tickets for that a lot while doing the responsible thing and walking home from the bars. So even if the buggy isnt a motor vehicle, or if he was on a skateboard, he could get a ticket.
Generally, the inside of a vehicle is not considered “public”. While it is somewhat that the “operator” might inadvertently steer the buggy into traffic, in my experience horses generally are not that fucking stupid.
Even if the PA legislature’s intent was to include horse buggies by leaving “motor” off of “motor vehicle” it doesn’t change the fact that it is a poorly written law.
DWI on a skateboard ? Skates? Even in my state I’ve started to notice laws being written sloppier and sloppier, sometimes requiring 2 or 3 legislative changes before they finally get what they were trying to get.
Aren’t most of these fucking morons lawyers ? I’m not a lawyer and I can write better law than that.
I just searched the Pennsylvania code and the closest thing to a definition of a vehicle was a bit more specific than would be applicable here, but it’s still of interest.
The page is at http://www.pacode.com/secure/data/007/chapter37/s37.1.html
“§ 37.1. Definitions”
“The following words and terms, when used in this chapter, have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:”
The list includes this:
“Vehicle—Any van, truck, trailer, automobile, wagon, ship, barge, freight car, airplane or other means for transporting frozen food.”
So I would also assume that the DUI/DWI law does not require a vehicle to be motorized for you to be nailed for being drunk in or on it since it just says, “vehicle”.
Live and learn. It’s all in the definitions!
Also interesting in the phrase, “be in actual physical control of the movement of a vehicle”.
So one would assume this is how they could arrest you for DUI if you were passed out in a parked vehicle and behind the wheel.
Your presence behind the wheel would essentially prevent anyone else from controlling the movement of the vehicle (since you’re in the way), so by default that puts you “in actual physical control of the movement of a vehicle”.
So I guess if you’re in the back seat or driver’s side seat, there’d be no DUI arrest?
@william Miller:
You rock for looking further than I was willing to. Still….
Vehicle—Any van, truck, trailer, automobile, wagon, ship, barge, freight car, airplane or other means for transporting frozen food.
Attaching a horse-drawn wagon is kinda a stretch.
So one would assume this is how they could arrest you for DUI if you were passed out in a parked vehicle and behind the wheel.
Generally, you could, as being “in control” of the vehicle in question.
In my not-so-professional opinion here is the fact that the horse is ultimately in control. Added to that the fact that you are marked (in most states and I assume PA) as a ‘slow moving vehicle’
(as boozed up, i’ll have to return to this tomorrow)