Articles Posted in Drunk Driving in Massachusetts

Every year, we tend to see an increase in drunk driving crashes around the holidays. One of the reasons is that people tend to drink more during the holidays. Sometimes it a festive occasion such as an office holiday party, and other times it is due to an underlying problem with alcohol and depression that is often more severe during the holiday season. When this increased drinking is combined with increased travel, as normally occurs during the holiday season, we end up with more alcohol-related car accidents. Some of the drunk driving accidents are fatal.

According to a recent news article from the Boston Herald, a fire fighter and senior citizen were both killed in separate drunk driving accidents in towns around Boston. The first accident involved a well-loved firefighter who defendant hit with his van. Victim and his fiancée, both 62 years old, were hit by the car. Police say victim was found lying in the road. He was found face down having sustained serious head injuries. His fiancée is expected to survive the accident. Defendant in this case is alleged to have admitted to authorities he had been drinking earlier in the night at two different establishments. Barnstable County prosecutors charged defendant with motor vehicle homicide involving drunk driving. Prosecutors also charged defendant with drunk driving involving serious personal injury.
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Around the holidays we tend to see some pretty strange behavior. This is especially true when dealing with drunk driving arrests. During this past Halloween, we saw a woman dressed as a Zombie get arrested twice for drunk driving in the same night while in full costume. According to a recent news article from the Gothamist, a man dressed as one of Santa’s elves was arrested for driving drunk in New Jersey this holiday season. Authorities have alleged defendant was passed out drunk behind the wheel of a motor vehicle after a long night of partying. He was dressed as an elf at the time of his arrest.

Police found the 23-year-old driver dressed as elf in a store’s loading dock in his car with the engine running, lights on, and radio turned up to full volume. He was wearing what police describe as a red shirt and pants and a white ruffled collar.
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According to a recent news article from the Boston Herald, singer/actress Jennifer Lopez was hit by an alleged drunk driver. Los Angeles County Prosecutors issues a statement describing how Lopez was riding as a passenger in her Rolls-Royce, along with her two children. Actress Leah Remini, her friend, was driving the car when defendant is alleged to have crashed his pickup truck into them while they were stopped at a traffic light.
Prosecutors charged defendant with driving a motor vehicle under the influence.

Prosecutors say police performed a test to determine defendant’s blood alcohol concentration at the time of the accident, and it was reported to be around twice the legal limit. In that jurisdiction, as well as in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the legal limit of alcohol is 0.08 grams of ethanol per milliliter of blood. Ethanol is the chemical name for drinking alcohol as opposed to medicinal alcohol such as isopropyl.

It should be noted some people have ingested isopropyl alcohol and other forms of alcohol, such as those present in hand sanitizers and mouthwash to become drunk, and can still be charged with a DUI and found liable in civil car accident lawsuit if they do, but given the other toxic effects of drinking other forms of alcohol, it is less common.
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A lot of people who drive a vehicle while intoxicated tend to do so on a regular basis. These habitual drunk drivers tend to think of it as a victimless crime. However, when there is an alcohol-related accident, drunk driving is far from being victimless, as it can have serious consequences for other people.

According to a recent news article from Mass Live, the Massachusetts Office for Victim Assistance has been awarded a major grant to help victims of drunk driving accidents in several countries in the Commonwealth. Funding for this program comes from court costs and fines that the court assesses from those convicted of operating under the influence (OUI).
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Many people are aware that the legal limit of alcohol intoxication is 0.08 grams per hundred milliliters of blood. This true in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and across the United States. The reason for this is because Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) was able to lobby to create a national standard for drunk driving. The way this was accomplished was to tell any state not willing to lower the legal limit to 0.08 percent it would not get full highway funding. Legal scholars refer to this as Congress’ power to control the purse strings.

While it does not mean that someone who has been drinking is safe to drive merely because his her blood alcohol content (BAC) is below the legal limit, if their BAC is above the legal limit, it is presumed they are intoxicated in a court of law.
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Drunk driving accidents involving victims who were riding in a taxi cab are more common than one might initially think. According to a recent news article from the Arlington Patch, a 26-year-old suspected drunk driver was arrested for allegedly rear-ending a taxi cab early one Saturday morning.

Witnesses say defendant was driving her car in an erratic manner when the car accident occurred. At the time of the accident, a police officer was driving behind defendant and immediately responded to the accident. Officers say driver appeared to be intoxicated and was asked to take several Standardized Field Sobriety Tests (SFTSs) after exiting the vehicle. After allegedly failing all three tests, police placed defendant under arrest for operating a motor vehicle under the influence of intoxicating liquor or drugs (OUI), negligent operation of a motor vehicle, a marked lanes violation, and following too closely (tailgating).
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Mothers against Drunk Driving (MADD) is a non-profit organization that has been essential in raising the national drinking age to 21-years-of-age and increasing penalties for drunk driving. According to a recent news feature from CBS, MADD, along with the help of several South Florida families who are all victims of drunk driving accidents, is working to raise awareness of drunk driving and drugged driving this holiday season.

One victim interviewed in the article discusses how a drunk driver hit them and literally drove through their car. She described the drunk driving accident, which is something she will never forget, by saying the drunk driver was traveling in excess of 100 mph in a bus-only lane when the crash occurred. Her 13-year-old sister was killed in this fatal drunk driving crash. Victim’s mother is pleading with anyone who will listen to designate a driver who will agree to remain sober to prevent an accident like this one from occurring again.

Another family member is urging people not have a few drinks and then get behind the wheel. As she says, even if you are within the legal limit of .08 grams per hundred milliliters of blood, it does not mean it is safe for you drive. To demonstrate this, police set up a demonstration to show how difficult it is for people to function even when they are at or below the legal limit.
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There is no doubt drunk driving accidents can lead to serious personal injury and death. One recent news article from My Fox Boston looks at a close call that resulted in the destruction of a home and what appear to be minor injuries. Authorities are reporting a woman was arrested for operating under the influence (OUI) after crashing her car into a house where a 72-year-old man was sleeping.

When Worchester, Massachusetts police officers got the house, it was just after 2 a.m. Defendant’s car had crashed through an exterior wall, drove completely inside the house, and came to a stop with the front wheels suspended inches over the homeowner’s bed that was in his basement bedroom.

The occupant, who had a bandage wrapped around his head due his injuries, said he was asleep when he heard the car crash through his apartment. He was able to get out of the way and saw people in the car trying to get out. He tried to help them exit the crashed vehicle.
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According to a recent news article from WMUR 9, a defendant was sentenced to 10 years in prison for killing a newlywed bride in a 2013 drunk driving car accident in New England in 2013. The couple was just married in their home state of Minnesota and were driving through New England during their honeymoon.

Court records indicate defendant, who had a blood alcohol level of two times the legal limit and had taken prescription drugs, crossed the center line and hit the victim’s car head on. The female victim was killed during the crash. Her husband suffered multiple skull fractures and other serious injuries but survived the horrific accident.

During the sentencing hearing, family members of the decedent had the opportunity to make what are known as victim impact statements, where they asked defendant how he can live with the knowledge that he had took someone’s life. Defendant also spoke at his sentencing hearing and said he can’t defend his actions and no longer knows who the person was that was driving the car that night. He said the accident happened, and he takes responsibility for it.
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There are few things worse than the death of a child. According to a recent news article from ABC 40, a community is in mourning after death of a seven year-old girl who was killed in an alcohol-related car accident in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Authorities are saying defendant, a 48-year-old woman, was charged with Motor Vehicle Homicide following the fatal accident. The young victim was crossing the street after leaving the library. She was with her mother and another relative when all three victims were hit by defendant’s car.

Police estimate defendant was traveling at 42 mph and failed several standardized field sobriety tests. The three victims were taken to a local hospital where the young girl was pronounced dead the following day. The other two victims are still recovering from the accident, and their condition is not considered life-threatening at this time.
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