Five thousand bucks? Holy crap...

That was one expensive hotel room you slept in.

$5000 is a small price to pay when we are talking criminal record and a year with no license

5 grand is alot of money especially if this guy was being turthful about not planning on driving....
Shitty law for the honest folks but I can see it being an escape code for the drunk who "says" they were just sitting there.

Holy crap... you left the club at 2am, and *FIVE HOURS* later you blew a .120??? You're lucky you're still alive, nevermind facing a DUI.

Was this club in Vancouver? Be glad you didn't get nailed under the anti-idling bylaw as well! :D

^ lol @ anti-idling law haha

Yea man 5 hours after. I wonder tho, how big of a difference it makes when you don't eat dinner. Because naturally we all know that drinking on an empty stomach is grounds for getting drunk quicker. I wonder how much it effects your blood alcohol level. What i'm saying is I wonder if I would have blew under had I eaten. I guess at this point it makes no difference. I am not going to argue the fact that I was intoxicated, because obviously I was.

The lawyer said he has dealt with a number of these cases when the accused is not operating the vehicle. He said there is a good chance of winning based on what I have told him thus far. He sounded confident. I always wonder though if lawyers just do this to get your money lol. Anyway i will find out more details tomorrow morning, so I will keep you guys posted if any of you guys are interested in this subject.

I agree that although $5,000 is a lot.. to me it is worth it though based on the consequences if found guilty. He said I could do monthly installments so there is a plus.

Again, I will update this thread as I go if anyone is interested.

I feel as though I can argue because I was still in the night club parking lot, and a drunk guy has to stay warm. Had I passed out 10 km's from my drinking location and parked on the side of the road that would be a diff story. I can also see how a drunk driver swerving around and then seeing a cop, parking and pretending like he was there the whole time.. thats where this law comes into play I think.

The officer said she got a call because there was a guy sleeping/ looking dead in an idling car. So from that point, to the time she came to see me I was still sleeping. She woke me up. How can I have intent to drive under these circumstances? At no point in time was I witnessed driving my vehicle or intending to do so. Anyway, I am not a lawyer but I will find out more info tomorrow.

and see if your friend can prove your side of the story.

Yes... we'll need pics of the chick he went home with!

:thumbsup:

Sorry man but u had the car running, drunk sitting inside it i dont think there is anyway u can get out of this 1. I always make sure my keys are outside the car when im hammered or sitting ter gettin stoned, that way after the blaze i grab my keys from outside, under my wheel and im off!

oh and lawyers are always confident when ur paying them!!!

Did you not read this thread at all?

yes thanks u prick!

Went to go see my lawyer today.. couple things.

One thing I was able to collect today that will be useful. Apparently at the times between 3:42am and 3:47am I made 8 calls to 5 different friends. None of the calls were successful (all voicemail). I checked my berry call logs this morning. I do not remember doing this (lol). However this is key because it shows that I had made attempts to contact people possibly for a ride. I feel like I got roofied or something because I honestly do not remember this at all haha. Anyway, my lawyer needs to see the call logs from my phone bill indicating this.

Overall my lawyer was relatively impressed with my case and that he was fairly confident in winning.

So after I left he told me I have to go to a driver services center to dispute my 90 day driving prohibition which would commence 21 days after the incident. I say ok so I go to the driver service center and apparently the officer forgot to check off the boxes required for this particular form. Long story short, the 90 day prohibition is considered NULL and VOID. I was like holy shit. She issued me a new license on the spot (yellow piece of paper) and I will be getting my license back in the mail. I asked her about my court date regarding my DUI charges and she said it was null and void as well.

I called my lawyer and told him this and he said that he is not sure if the DUI charges are actually null and void as well because sometimes the ppl working at the driver centers don't really know what they're talking about haha. So basically ICBC is going to be sending me a letter stating what happened and if the DUI charges will still commence or not. On top of that, the lady at the services center said that the officer has one year to redo this piece of paper to put it back into gear. I hope she does not do this of course but I guess only time will tell.

For now I feel like i've dodged a bullet, even though I gave the lawyer $1,000 today haha. I will probably hear from ICBC in a month so at that time I will update this thread.

Well, I hope it all works out for the best for you.

But more importantly, let's make sure none of us get ourselves, or our friends, into this situation. spread the word.

dang... next time sit in the passenger seat!!! best of luck to your dispute!!

For some reason, I think that your lawyer is trying to milk you for more money.

I know. I do not support driving under the influence ever. Even if you have to take a cab somewhere, just do it. I have told a lot of my friends already (especially my friends who go clubbing frequently) about what happened to me on the weekend and a lot of them were not aware of the details of this "care and control" rule.

"Care and control" also means that you can be charged for DUI even if you are not in the car but have the key on your person. Yes, this includes walking to your car to fetch a CD.. or even your pillow so you can crash at your friend's place.

I would also say that turning on the car from the passenger seat falls under the "operating a vehicle" category.

Unfortunately we live in a world where while the officer could simply help you call a cab and see that you got into it safely, she would rather arrest you and charge you with a criminal offense.

Except that we also live in a world where people can, and DO hop in the cab, drive around the block to get dropped off, and wait for the police to leave the location, jump back into their vehicle, and drive away.

Drinking so much that you blow a 120 5 hours AFTER drinking, means you were probably around 200 which is quite intoxicated. Drinking that much, its no wonder you don't remember much.


ICBC doesn't have any say in whether or not charges proceed or not, nor do they have access to the police investigation details from their front counter/customer service counter. If your lawyer is unaware of this, or saying that he's not sure, I'd seriously consider getting a different lawyer.

Ok, so then haul the guy off to the drunk tank until he sobers up. No need to turn him into a criminal for trying to keep warm in his car.

Reasonable people get themselves into sticky situations sometimes. The OP was being reasonable, had arranged a friend to drive him home but unfortuantely the friend ditched him, leaving him to pass out in the passenger seat.

We wonder why there is so much resentment towards the police.

The people I get the most resentment from, are the people that don't believe that what they did is wrong, or should be given a break "because it is their first time". More often that not, it isn't their first time doing it, its simply the first time being caught. Now, it might actually be their first time, but people lie. Frequently. We also get lots of resentment from people who know people who had a difficult experience with the police, or have read about someone having a difficult experience with the police. Those people rarely have the whole story. Those same people love the police when they need their help, but dislike them the rest of the time.

The people who we deal with lots (eg. gang members, drug addicts, frequent offenders, etc etc etc) are mostly friendly with us, even when bringing them back to the detachment after being arrested. the difference is that they're aware that they're doing illegal stuff and understand that our JOB is to arrest people for committing offenses. It isn't our job to play babysitter.

The problem with getting into vehicles when you are impaired is that legally and physically you have "care & control" while impaired. In this very case here the poster is surprised to find that he was still hammered several hours after he stopped drinking..and that is the crux of the matter. Impaired people are "impaired" mentally and physically and the only way to get "unimpaired' is by time. Until you are not impaired, you ARE impaired. I have come across many impaired drivers who thought they were OK after drinking hard at a party the previous night and then driving to work as late as the afternoon of the next day. They were still legally impaired.

If that parked vehilce was, for whatever reason, operated by the sleeping impaired operator, they would be problems. If there were no keys in the vehicle anywhere, the
driver had no access at all to them (someone took the only set away from the car) and you were in the back seat, then there should be no problem. In my experience, that is the position the courts take. An impaired person sitting in a car with the engine running, in the front, is a problem waiting to happen. None of the sleeping drunks had any intention of driving drunk..but they would have. Many woke up after a few hours and figured they were OK, then started driving. As others have suggested, you should be speaking with a lawyer. The Cops are not out to "get" you.....they deal with sleeping impaired drivers and the consequences. They also deal with people who lie to them many times a shift. If you think it is harsh persecution because they remove an impaired driver with care and control, try talking to MADD to see the point of view they have.

one thing you should not mention when in court, was that bit about how you probably would've slept til 6 if the officer didn't wake you up, as you blew a 120 at 7 and would've still be drunk at 6am.

you would've been a lot better off sleeping in the passenger seat tho.


p.s. do you have a fob or did you scratch the hell out of your door trying to get in when you were that pissed haha