I imagine if I watched someone who was obviously drunk get in the driver’s seat and take off, I would be tacitly guilty by way of inaction. Maybe not.
I also imagine that if I took someone’s keys from them, they may be able to make an argument for theft. I’m sure most courts would never convict anyone of this though.
So, my question is what does the law (in general that is) expect of a person when they see that an obviously intoxicated person is about to drive?
Before anyone says “just pick up a phone and call the cops”, I’m wondering about how something like this can be prevented legally, not how to rat someone out for being on the road drunk. If I need to do that, I think I know how.
If you are a bartender (in most states) you are held actively liable. The same probably applies if you are primarily responsible for providing the alcoholic beverages in question.
IANAL, but I strongly doubt that any prosecutor would attempt to charge someone removing the keys from an obviously drunk individual with theft, espeically in the presence of corroborating witnesses and giving a willingness to turn the keys over to proper authorities (i.e. police responding to a complaint). This would be analogous to taking a weapon away from someone threatening to assault another person; it is hardly “prior restraint”, much less theft if the individual in question is obviously intent on breaking the law.
As a practical point, drunks often tend to be belligerent and more resistant to reason than a Kansas Senator. You’re more likely to be accused of assault than theft, methinks, and such an argument is a bit more difficult to defend against if you had to take the keys by force.
The OP has lots of questions in it. I’m planning to pick the ones I like and only answer those. Yeah, I’m reckless that way. Some of the better lawyers likely will be along in the morning to clean up after me.
As usual, apply the standard disclaimers: although IAAL, IANYL, nor am I licensed in your jurisdiction. In fact, I may not even have traveled to your jurisdiction. What follows is not legal advice. YLMV.
Okay: guilt is a criminal concept, liability is a civil concept. Would you be either guilty or liable if you watched someone who was obviously drunk drive off? Maybe. It’s all going to hinge on your actions and your relationship to the DD. For example, assume you just spent the better part of two hours pouring Jagermeister down your bud’s throat, you may have some liability for his later actions, because you put him in that position. Note that’s liability, not guilt. Also, if you have a special relationship to the DD – as Stranger points out, there are dram shop acts that make drinking establishments potentially liable for letting an intoxicated customer drive home.
To convict you of this, you’d have to find a prosecutor willing to bring charges. If the facts are simply that bare – you saw a drunk guy and took his keys – the prosecutor likely wouldn’t follow that up. (Besides, what’s the drunk guy going to do – call the cops?) Now, suppose after DD sobers up, he sues you in tort for taking his keys. I doubt the case would get past a motion to dismiss at the pleading stage; what are his damages? He was deprived of his car keys at a time when it would have been a criminal act for him to get in his car. Evidence that he knew that would include his failure to call the cops and report the “theft.”
I’m not sure I understand your distinction. Calling the police to prevent a crime isn’t “rat[ting] someone out,” it’s preventing a crime legally. If someone is drinking and driving, the police are best equipped to deal with the situation. You can “self-help” by attempting to talk to the person, or take their keys, but if drunks are as belligerent as I’ve heard (I’m a happy drunk, myself, so I’d not only give you my keys, but my cell phone, pictures of my parents on vacation, etc.), then you may simply be escalating the situation by intervening.
Besides, what do you plan to do – perform a citizen’s arrest? First, although someone may appear intoxicated to you, unless you have training that permits you to test their horizontal gaze nystagmus, without a breathalyzer, your “opinion” about whether they’re too drunk to drive is not worth too much. Second, assume you’ve made your citizen’s arrest. Well, there’s not really a “citizen’s jail” you can take DD to; you’d have to call the police.
Here’s the bottom line; we all have to take responsibility for our actions. You may feel bad about “ratting someone out” for having too much to drink, then getting behind the wheel of a car. But that person made choices, at every step of the way, to get into that position. And if anyone should reap the fruit of those choices, it’s DD, not the rest of us on the road.
Went out had couple drinks with a friend I followed her to her residence. Then her boyfrienrd came in started a fight with her some things were said evenually he kicked me out (it was his house). Before all of this happened my friend had spoken to my daughter telling her I was fine to drive, but was not allowed to call her again for directions to the house I was being kicked out of. When all said and done I was called in on a REDDI (Report Every Drunk Drive Immediately) and pulled over for a hit and run. I was charged for a DUI not the hit and run. I am now trying seek out legal counsil for negligence? When speaking to a PI it was my fault for getting myself kicked out!! What should happen in these types instances? I live in Alaska :smack:
When you try and stop zombies from drinking and driving they’ll eat your brains for sure!
As far as samrbq’s situation, it sounds like you were arrested for DUI, which you have admitted to in your post. You should have stayed in your car and waited until you sobered up before driving.
And what you should do now is talk to an attorney about the best plan of action for you regarding the charge. A DUI is NOT “just a traffic ticket”. It is much more serious.
Probably not in the car. In many places (not sure about Alaska) if you are in the driver’s seat and you have the keys in your possession, you can be found guilty of DUI no matter if the keys are even in the ignition.
Zombie drunks are the worst kind, that’s for sure.