Can someone legitimately confined to a motorized wheelchair get a DUI for cruising down a public sidewalk while drunk?
Say for the sake of argument that they are not disrupting traffic (pedestrian or vehicle) or being disruptive, just going about their business…
Depends on the jurisdiction, so YMMV.
In North Carolina, you could get a DUI on just about anything with wheels (car, lawn mower, bicycle, etc), a boat, or even on horseback.
ETA: I don’t know if rollerskates count. Seriously.
Here’s a case: http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=886&dat=19920626&id=uRwOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=qH0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=6968,5800310 (yes in Kentucky)
Homepage - DUI BLOG November 15, 2019 (similar case tossed in Florida).
http://www.njdwi911.com/CM/FSDP/PracticeCenter/Criminal-Law/Drunk-DrivingDUI.asp?focus=overview (refers to convictions for wheelchair operators) (this is canned content, btw).
OK, granting the variance…I just wondered if it had ever happened and if it lead to conviction. It just came up in conversation during break at work. So say in NC where you can get one on anything with wheels…ever heard of a wheelchair DUI?
I’m wondering specifically if a counter-argument can be made along the lines of the chair being a necessary extension of their body (i.e. they couldn’t walk out of a bar to a taxicab, they had to use a motorized ‘vehicle’). Sounds like in NC tho that the ‘motorized’ portion is not decisive.
Gfactor- woah. Thanks. So the decisive factor there seemed to be that he went in a public road (to detour around closed sidewalk). I know people can get DUIs on bicycles, riding mowers, etc. in alleyways, yards, etc…I wonder if he’d have been OK if he stayed on sidewalks.
Interesting. Thanks!
That will also vary by jurisdiction. Some states don’t regulate operation of vehicles on private property, others do, at least to some extent. Sidewalks are probably an easier case. Here’s a case affirming a DUI conviction for drunkenly riding a bike on a public sidewalk. http://www.dui1.com/DuiCaseLawDetail61222/Page1.htm
My source is the county sheriff, who is a personal friend. He briefed us on the changes to DUI law when they went into effect at the fire department and rescue squad meetings, because we often have a hand in wreck incidents. It’s not the presence of self-propulsion or wheels that makes it a DUI, it’s being out in public on just about any means of conveyance that is not a pair of feet. Walking while drunk is still public intoxication.
FWIW, my wife called a bit ago to say there is a big EMS rescue operation going on, for a guy hit by a car while riding his lawnmower. In my lttle county of 10k people, that happens about 3 times a year, and 2 of them will be drunk while mowing.
Interesting. Under these Ohio laws though, it looks like rollerskates, skateboards, etc. are excluded, and wheelchairs are specifically excluded:
C.C.C. 2101.51 provides:
“Vehicle” means every device, including a motorized bicycle, in, upon or by which any person or property may be transported or drawn upon a street or highway, except that “vehicle” does not include any motorized wheelchair, any electric personal assistive mobility device, or any device that is used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks, or any device, other than a bicycle, that is moved by human power.
I wonder if a Segway is considered an “electric personal assistive mobility device”? 
VunderBob, gotchya…I didn’t take you literally on the wheels thing.
I see in one of Gfactor’s cites that the case was indeed made about the chair being an extension of body:
Judge Peyton Hyslop, in one of his last rulings from the bench, said the wheelchair essentially was the woman’s legs and that charging her in this case would be tantamount to bringing DUI charges against anyone who was drunk and standing up……
Hyslop said under those terms, an able-bodied totally intoxicated person sitting next to the impaired disabled person “would not be subject to such arrest, and only to arrest if disorderly”.
Let me add that I have not seen the minutiae of the NC statute, but given our Sheriff’s Department, even if wheelchairs were excluded I can imagine most of the deputies charging DUI when it’s not applicable.
Across the state line in Suffolk, VA, the Suffolk PD will automatically charge the at-fault driver in an accident with Reckless Driving. Same mentality at play.
Yep. My point was merely that the sidewalks are often included in OWI/DUI laws.
nods
Thanks for the input. I think these laws are going to be held up to closer and closer scrutiny as economy trends us to smaller, personal transport. I was only half-joking about the Segway as it seems they are devoloping (road-legal?!) NEVs (neighborhood electrical devices).
NEVs+Neighborhood Bars+Joe Sixpack=need for more specific definitions of vehicles, conveyance, etc. for DUIs.
Now I’m wondering about those do-jobbies at WalMart and if you got in one drunk in the store…
I presume “C.C.C.” is the Columbus City Code, the collection of ordinances which apply only within the City of Columbus, Ohio. As it happens, the ordinance is a verbatim restatement of Ohio Revised Code (statewide law) Sec. 4511.01(A). I could find no reported Ohio cases holding that someone could be properly charged with DUI while in a wheelchair.
Right. It’s made explicit in the case I linked above http://www.dui1.com/DuiCaseLawDetail61222/Page1.htm which upholds a conviction for driving a bike on a sidewalk while intoxicated. Given the explicit carve-out, it’d be tough to get a conviction for drunk driving involving a wheelchair, although you might still get hit for disorderly conduct or public intoxication or something. Of course, the consequences of those violations are much less severe.
I saw the police nail a guy for DUI right in front of my house. He was on a bicycle. He was not driving a car while suspended. He was trying to do the right thing. It somehow seems wrong. I hope they did not go all the way and take him to court for DUI. A plea down seems right to me.
I wonder if the Americans with Disabilities Act could be used as a defense in this case. (e.g. You are treating me differently because I “walk” with a wheelchair instead of with my feet)
Slamming into someone with a bike is no joke - and it becomes a lot more likely with booze in you.
Serious bicyclists often insist that they want to be treated like other drivers on the road - and I sure do when I’m out on my bike. That means laying off of the sauce.
I’ve heard of a case here in NC where a guy was charged with DUI because the keys were in the ignition even though the car was not running. Don’t know if that got thrown out or not. I know you can be charged if the car is running even if the car is in park and not moving.
In many jurisdictions, having the keys in the ignition is sufficient to support a conviction. See Peason, James, “What constitutes driving, operating, or being in control of motor vehicle for purposes of driving while intoxicated statute or ordinance,” 93 A.L.R.3d 7 (1979).
ETA: Here is a previous thread on the topic: DWI For Being "In Control" Of Non-Moving Vehicle? - Factual Questions - Straight Dope Message Board