For the purposes of public intoxication, how is drunkeness defined? Would a patron be forced to blow a breathalyzer?
I think it’s wrong to enforce this. If the cops want to stake out the bar’s parking lot and arrest a drunk for getting behind the wheel of a car, that’s fine with me. If a sober designated driver takes the inebriate home, than what’s the problem?
FTR I do not spend much time in bars. I just think that this is wrong unless the arrestee is fighting or causing some kind of disturbance.
I think most places have laws against public drunkenness (however they choose to phrase the term). I also think anyplace other than a private home or private club meets the legal definition of “public.” So, I think that it would stand up in a court of law (IMHO, of course).
Having said that, if they’re going to arrest drinkers for being drunk, don’t they have to also arrest servers for overserving? I think it’s a zealous attempt to proactively cut down on drunk driving, but I worry about the subjective interpretation of “drunk” in the hands of the cops. And I agree that a person not misbehaving in public but simply over the legal limit, who is being driven home by a sober driver, shouldn’t really be arrested for anything.
I’d be outraged if I (or anyone else) were arrested for “being drunk” if they were minding their own business and behaving perfectly reasonably. That’s why in the UK the offence is “drunk and disorderly”, which a good number of drunks are, of course.
They tried to pull this in Fairfax County, VA a while back. I seem to remember that it was decided that a bar was private property and that the drunks were guests, therefore the cops were out of line asking people in the bar to do drunk tests. Sorry, no cite.
What makes it even more asinine is that they can’t really even claim to be cracking down on drunk driving. They were also sweeping hotel bars, arresting people who had checked in and weren’t going to be driving anywhere.
Does anyone know how “drunkenness” is defined for statutes against public intoxication? I’d think the standard used for safe driving ability would be absurdly low for any other context, such as, for example, finding your way back to your hotel room.
That’s kind of my thoughts. Bars are private property, right? So how can a drunk in a bar be considered drunk in public (at least, until they exit the front door, either by walking or other means)?
As a former smoker in the Empire State, I can attest to the state’s ability to do all sorts of strange things in bars. It has to do with the public accommodation laws.