dui los angeles

Published on: March 18, 2019

How Do Different Prescription Drugs Affect Your Driving?

You weren’t at a party. You weren’t at a bar. You hadn’t even had anything to drink. You were just driving to the store for groceries, or maybe to pick up your child from soccer practice. Perhaps you feel just a little drowsy. A policeman pulls you over because he notices something unusual about your driving—or even an unrelated moving violation like a broken brake light. Before you realize it, you’ve been arrested on suspicion of DUI.

How did this happen?

The above scenario might seem like an anomaly, but it happens to people more often than you might think. Prescription drugs can impair your driving abilities in a number of different ways, from causing excessive drowsiness to affecting logic and motor skills. While the amount and influence if any drug in your system is difficult to measure (unlike alcohol content), California law does not differentiate: Driving under the influence of alcohol or any drug—legal or illegal—is against the law. If an officer believes you are impaired, you can be arrested. Period.

Published on: October 17, 2016

Do Energy Drinks Encourage Driving Under the Influence?

by Michael Kraut

You might think that drinking lots of caffeine along with alcohol would help a driver avoid charges of DUI in Los Angeles. But a recently published study in a scientific journal (Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research) suggests that may not be the case; in fact, the more super-caffeinated beverages a person has, the more likely it is that he/she will drive under the influence.

According to the Arstechnica website, researchers at the University of Maryland conducted a six-year study of 1,000 college students. They questioned the students every year, asking them about their alcohol use, their energy drink use and DUI driving frequency in the previous 12 months. The researchers found that:

•   Nearly all of the students (most were about age 23) reported that they drank alcohol at least once the previous year
•   25 percent said they had driven while under the influence
•   57 percent said they had drunk at least one energy drink; of that number, 56 percent said they drank the energy drinks both alone and with alcohol, 15 percent said they drank them only when mixed with alcohol and 27 percent said they drank the energy drinks and alcohol separately.

Published on: September 30, 2016

Three Cautionary Tales: Drivers Make DUIs Obvious

by Michael Kraut

Poor motor skills, the smell of alcohol and red eyes are all signs that someone could be DUI in Los Angeles. But police officers don’t always have to use those clues to know that something is wrong; the situations themselves can make it pretty obvious that the drivers have a problem.

• Ronald Brundige, age 26, of Depauville, New York, was pulling a car behind his vehicle when police stopped him on September 20th. They noticed what Brundige apparently did not—the car he was pulling was on fire. The officers towed Brundige off to jail, charging him with DWI, aggravated unlicensed operation and refusing to take a breath test.

• People who want to avoid DUI charges should try not to do anything that will attract police attention. A 16-year-old teen from Virginia learned that lesson the hard way when he drove into a lake near his home. The teen and a friend had been drinking by the water, but when they decided to leave the young driver put the car into reverse gear by mistake. The vehicle went backwards 25 feet into the lake. The teens made it out safely, but police had to send a rescue team to get the car out of the water the next day. The teen is now facing DUI charges.

Published on: September 7, 2016

Couple Donates Infant’s Organs After DUI Tragedy

by Michael Kraut

Deaths caused by crashes involving a driver who is DUI in Los Angeles are always heartbreaking because they are so unnecessary and preventable. It’s somehow worse when the victim is an infant, and the child’s parents try to salvage something good from their devastation.

Mixed martial arts fighter Marcus Kowal lost his young son over Labor Day weekend when a 72-year-old woman hit the toddler’s stroller in Hawthorne, California. The 15-year-old aunt of Liam Mikael Kowal was pushing him in a stroller through a pedestrian crosswalk with flashing yellow lights on Saturday, September 3rd. Donna Marie Higgins hit the pair and then tried to flee the scene, but witnesses followed her and blocked her SUV to prevent her escape.

When emergency responders arrived, they found Liam still strapped in the stroller and his teenaged aunt lying near the crosswalk. Liam was not breathing, but they managed to revive him and rush him to Harbor UCLA Medical Center. However, the child had suffered irreversible brain injuries and his parents made the difficult decision to take him off life support and donate his organs to another young child. They said that they hoped the donation would save another child’s life and spare other parents the tragedy they are facing.
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Published on: July 27, 2016

How Many DUIs are Caused by Undiagnosed Mental Health Issues?

by Michael Kraut

Addiction to alcohol and other drugs obviously contributes to many arrests for DUI in Los Angeles. But could repeat DUI offenses also be an indicator that a person has a mental health disorder? The San Joaquin Superior Court’s Collaborative Courts Department will be working with Harvard Medical School to try to find out.

Recordnet.com reports that the court will be serving as one of six test sites for a Computerized Assessment and Referral System (CARS) developed by Harvard Medical School’s Division on Addiction of Cambridge Health Alliance and the Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility. The court’s case managers and substance abusers have already begun screening repeat DUI offenders using the system.

CARS asks repeat offenders a series of questions about signs and symptoms of mental health issues within the past year and during their lifetime. It identifies 15 specific mental health disorders for which they might be at risk, including depression, anxiety disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and bipolar disorder. The system then generates a report to the court that suggests treatments and provides a list of referrals to providers who could offer help.

Published on: April 27, 2016

Philadelphia Nun Loses License After DUI Conviction

by Michael Kraut

Arrests for DUI in Los Angeles frequently have a twist–a celebrity arrested, an incident involving some unusual circumstances. But L.A. doesn’t have a monopoly on strange DUI arrests, as evidenced by this East Coast case.
A judge in New Jersey didn’t buy the excuse given by Sister Kimberly Miller, age 41, for her DUI arrest. Miller, who lives in Philadelphia, claimed that she hadn’t even known she was behind the wheel when police picked her up on November 7th in Gloucester County. She said that the combination of a glass of wine and a dose of the sleeping medication Ambien at bedtime had left her “sleep driving,” and she had no recollection of how she got to New Jersey or in police custody.

Sister Kimberly Miller of Little Flower H.S. is organizing its 1st Little Flower Teen Author Festival. Photograph in school library with display of books written by young authors that will attend the festival. Picture taken on Thursday afternoon February 20, 2014. ( ALEJANDRO A. ALVAREZ / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER )

Police arrested Miller after witnesses saw her backing into the glass door of an auto repair store–breaking it–and leaving the scene. When the officers caught up with the nun, she had a half-empty bottle of wine behind the front seat. She blew a .16 on a breathalyzer test, but the judge threw out that evidence because police had not followed the proper procedures–observing Miller for 20 minutes–before administering the test.

Published on: April 20, 2016

Using Social Media to Expose Light DUI Sentences

by Michael Kraut

Should the public be informed if a judge gives a driver convicted of a Los Angeles DUI a very light sentence? The State of New Mexico thinks that’s what should happen in the Land of Enchantment.

New Mexico judges who routinely hand out lenient sentences to DUI drivers may soon have observers in their courtroom. Governor Susana Martine announced in mid-April that New Mexico plans to pay staffers from Mothers Against Drunk Driving to monitor these trials—and to report to state officials on what they’re seeing. State employees will tweet the names of the repeat offenders and the judges who let them off easily.

According to an Associated Press report, the state has given MADD an $800,000, two-year contract to carry out this work. Governor Martine said the program is necessary, because the justice system too often fails families whose suffer because they have lost loved ones in DUI-related crashes.

Published on: March 16, 2016

Mandatory Drug Tests for DUI Arrests? Another Law Bites The Dust

by Michael Kraut

Kansas has joined the list of states where courts have ruled against laws requiring suspected DUI drivers to take a breathalyzer or blood test without police first getting a warrant. A similar decision by a California court would undoubtedly impact many of the cases against drivers arrested for a DUI in Los Angeles.

The Kansas State Legislature passed a law in 2012 making refusing to take a blood or breath test after a DUI arrest an offense separate from the DUI itself. The penalties for breaking that law were steep: a one-year license suspension plus two years of driving with an ignition interlock device. But in the ruling announced on February 26th, the Kansas Supreme Court found that law was unconstitutional.

Published on: September 14, 2015

Eight Kids And A DUI Driver

by Michael Kraut

Have you ever nervously watched a Los Angeles DUI driver weaving down the road at high speed? Then you also know the feeling of relief you get if you see that a police officer has pulled that driver over. You’re glad that they have yanked him or her off the road before someone ended up dead or in the hospital. If the vehicle carries passengers, you may wonder how the driver could risk endangering them—especially when those passengers are children.

Police in Madison County, Indiana, got a jolt when they encountered 26-year-old Jennifer Karkosky on the Saturday evening of Labor Day weekend. Karkosky was not only allegedly driving under the influence–she was also carrying eight children between the ages of three and 12 years old in her blue 2000 GMC Jimmy.

According to Fox 59 News, Karkosky said she and the children had been on their way home from a swimming pool, and she was attempting to turn her vehicle around on the road. Instead, she backed off the road, ending up with the vehicle at a 45 degree angle and its hood in the air. Police officers responding to the scene said Karkosky smelled like alcohol and said she admitted to having three beers earlier in the day. Her blood alcohol content measured at 0.16, double the legal limit.

The passengers in the car included Karkosky’s own two children, three children of friends and three she was trying to adopt. It’s not likely that she’ll get custody anytime soon, if the DUI charges stick. The charges against her include one count of operating a vehicle while intoxicated with previous convictions against her; eight counts of neglect of a dependent child; and one count of driving on a suspended driver’s license.

Authorities released Karkosky’s two kids and the friends’ children to family members. The Department of Child Services is caring for the remaining three.

Locating a seasoned and qualified Los Angeles DUI defense lawyer is a critical part of the process of reclaiming your life, your time and your peace of mind. Call ex-prosecutor Michael Kraut for a free consultation right now.

Published on: July 8, 2015

Switching Seats to Fool Cops into Thinking You Didn’t Drive DUI: Unsurprisingly, It Doesn’t Work!

by Michael Kraut

As this blog has documented over the years, people try a lot of crazy approaches to avoid being charged with a Los Angeles DUI. Some cry. Others flee the scene. Still others try to talk their way out of the charges.

One ploy that doesn’t work too well, however, is switching seats just before the police officer comes up to the vehicle. Just ask Jose Ruiz, age 29, of Providence, Rhode Island. When the police pulled him over, he quickly exchanged places with his passenger, maybe hoping the officer wouldn’t notice the swap. (He did.)

According to a local newspaper, the Warwick Post, when police spotted Ruiz initially, he was swerving into other lanes, and he just barely missed hitting a guard rail. When police pulled him over, they called his bluff and gave him a field sobriety test. He apparently didn’t do too well.

But trying to pretend he wasn’t driving wasn’t Ruiz’s only offense. He had been driving on a suspended license; his vehicle’s windows were too heavily tinted; and there were two bottles of Hennessy (cognac) in the car, one open and one closed. (Ruiz reportedly threw them in the back seat before he got out of the car; that worked about as well in terms of keeping him out of trouble as did changing places with his passenger.)

The final difficulty? Although the car was registered to Ruiz, the plates belong to a rental car company. Uh oh.

According to the Warwick Post, the police threw the book at Ruiz, charging him with misuse of plates, operating a motor vehicle with an open alcohol container, failing to use turn signals, roadway violations, and refusal to submit to a chemical test.

How should you respond to your recent and disarming charges? Call a qualified Los Angeles DUI defense lawyer (andex-prosecutor) with nearly two decades of relevant legal experience.