I saw a clip from some TV-Hollywood Entertainment show a hour or two ago, and just wondered what everyone else’s take on it was…
It showed Dennis Quaid and his wife leaving a restaurant (I think it was somewhere in LA) and of course there were paparazzi everywhere, taking pictures and video. In the video it showed a close up of Quaid, and he looked like he has obviously been drinking. The video then cuts to Quaid and his wife in thier SUV, pulling out of the parking lot, Dennis behind the wheel. Just after he begins to leave, a cop pulls up to Quaid’s vehicle and tells him not to drive any further, and says something like “the situation is bad enough already”. Dennis Quaid then says to the officer that no, he wasnt going to actually drive off, he was just moving his car to a different parking spot and calling a cab to get him home. Then the video shows Quaid and his party leaving by taxi, and shows footage of Quaid getting a ride to the restaurant to pick up his SUV the next morning.
This looked to me like a clear case of a star getting “star” treatment, and if it would have been some random person clearly DUI in the same situation, it would not have ended with a cab ride home.
Quaid was clearly behind the wheel of a running vehicle, and the cop obviously knew he was impaired by the statement he made to Quaid (“lets not make the situation any worse”) but still let him off.
Does this surprise anyone, or is this just the way things are commonly done?
For me, I am not shocked to see that stars sometimes may get special treatment, but to see the cop let him off in front of the paparazzi and other fans (with cameras!!!) was a bit of an eye opener…
I am pretty sure the show I saw this on was “Inside Edition”
Is it possible that because Quaid was still in a private parking lot (I think) when he was stopped by the officer, that he had not broken any laws at that point, and thats why he was let off?
Not every cop is an asshole lying in wait to give a ticket or arrest everyone they see. Sometimes, believe it or not, they actually try to prevent people from getting tickets/arrested. And if the target listens and does what the cop says, everyone wins. I’ve seen similar situations play out before, both where the person listens, and where the idiot defies the cop. Guess who never loses?
Having lived in LA for many years, I know it is pretty common for police to cut some slack with celebrities. Not always, by any means, but if the law infringement is borderline or not worth the effort they might get by with a warning.
Fair? Maybe not - but while me getting pulled over and having to pay a fine is no big deal, this can be headlines for a celebrity and cause the police officer days in court and becomes a headache quickly.
There have been some severe cases where celebrities (literally?) got away with murder, but for the most part - if it is speeding 10 miles over the limit, or in danger of pulling out of a parking lot after having too much to drink, the officer might try to come up with an alternative option.
Celebrities do have a point in that with paparazzi tailing them, and trying to drive away with idiots cutting them off, they are often being endangered more than they are a danger to anyone else.
DMark—I was just going to let this thread die (its very apparent that no one else cares, and quite frankly this is not a subject I am much invested in either) but since your post has bumped this thread, I just will add that I saw the footage again today, (different show) and it is clear that Quaid WAS driving on a public street (NOT a parking lot) and was absolutely let off of a slam-dunk DUI charge, no question about it.
Dennis Quaid was driving in an alley behind the restaurant, and had pulled forward a few feet, when the cop pulled up alongside and stopped him from proceding to drive off further to the street ahead.
I am not really upset, as Dennis Quaid seems like one of the more low key and likable stars I can think of, and he was barely under way, not having made it out to the main road, but I am having a hard time thinking that joe six-pack would have been allowed to simply turn off the car and call a cab.
I guess what really seems the most “off” about the whole deal is that the cop lets him off knowing the entire scene is being recorded by several bystanders…
Spanish cops routinely go to clubs after hours, stop cars leaving, breathalize everybody and if anybody in a car is over the limit, make them wait for half an hour, then breathalize again. If at that point nobody who has a license is below the limit, they have to wait until they are.
It’s intended to be educational, not an income source.
I don’t know what the rules are in California, but I can tell you that in Virginia, as long as the property is open to the public, the traffic laws apply and a driver may be cited for drunk driving. So a restaurant parking lot, even though it’s private property, is not legal ground to drive intoxicated.
I had just about the exact same situation happen to me years ago, with pretty much the same results.
I was well above the limit, but didn’t want to leave me car in the spot where I had parked it. I drove it to the back of the lot, and as I was getting out, an officer pulled up. I explained the situation honestly, and the officer hung around until I was in the taxi.
Yeah, the cop could have been a douche and screwed up my life for several years in order to make himself look good. Fortunately, not every cop is going to react in that manner.
My buddy was a reserve cop in Oxnard many years ago and they pulled over Brian Dennehy. He was full of “respect you boys in blue” but according to said buddy was not in driving shape. They called him a cab. I think they were thinking of the attention and hassle.
OTOH, I had a friend in HS who got pulled over, and he said the cop made them lock the keys in the car and walk home. Getting the keys out and the car back was left as a problem for the student.
As for the parking lot jurisdiction, my dad got in a fender bender in CA in the employee parking lot, but the cop who came over said he couldn’t fill out an accident report because the rules of the road didn’t apply there. I’m sure this wasn’t a lot with tickets and swinging wooden arms. Anyone could have visited anytime.
You are held if anyone is over the limit, but have to stay until someone is UNDER the limit? Doesn’t this have a huge hole in it? Am I reading this incorrectly?
I’m not seeing a contradiction or hole in either Nava’s post or yours. So I think you’re reading it incorrectly. You can’t leave til everyone is sober. What hole do you see?
I assume you’re correct, but she phrased it rather confusingly. Either it’s
a) the cops don’t allow you to leave until everyone in the car is sober, or
b) if the driver is drunk, the cops breathalyze everyone in the car until at least one person is sober enough to drive.
The former sounds seriously draconian (why the fuck would you need to breathalyze someone in the back seat, being driven by a sober driver? Do they force cabs to pull over until their drunk passengers sober up?) and the latter implausibly lenient.