Car accidents happen on the roadways of South Carolina just like they do in every state across the country. If a resident sees a car that they believe could cause an accident, they will sometimes report it to the authorities. This happened recently in South Carolina and the report led to the issuance of drunk driving charges.
At 12:30 a.m. on December 8, a resident of South Carolina approached a police officer and reported that they had seen a white Ford truck driving sporadically all over the road and, at times, on the wrong side of the road.
The officer pursued the driver and caught up to the vehicle. Upon approaching the driver, the officer allegedly smelled alcohol. He then asked the driver to step out of the vehicle. The officer stated that he believed the driver was “extremely intoxicated.” The driver performed poorly on field sobriety testing and failed the stand on one leg test. He told the officer that he had consumed a couple of alcohol beverages. The officer then arrested the man.
The man’s truck was impounded and, upon taking a Breathalyzer test, the results came in at .19. South Carolina’s legal blood-alcohol concentration limit for driving is .08. The 34-year-old man was charged with a crime for drunk driving and taken to jail.
When a resident of South Carolina is charged with DUI, the penalties associated with conviction can be very severe and may include a prison sentence, monetary fines, alcohol rehabilitation programs and more. However, there are experienced DUI defense attorneys in South Carolina that have a history of successfully defending these types of cases.
An experienced and rigorous defense team may be able to determine whether there was an error in the Breathalyzer reading, whether the defendant’s rights were violated or whether there were other circumstances that could lead to a reduction or dismissal of charges. No matter what the strategy, the case almost always ends in a more positive light for the defendant when an experienced DUI defense team is involved.
Source: The Times and Democrat, “‘Extremely intoxicated’ driver charged with DUI, no S.C. license,” Dec. 20, 2013
