Boston Drunk Driving Accident Lawyer Blog

While there is nothing funny about drunk driving, as it is responsible for tens of thousands of deaths each year and many more cases of serious personal injury, some of the interactions police have with alleged drunk drivers inevitably illicit a chuckle.

According to a recent news article from Cleveland.com, police pulled over a driver for weaving across marked lanes. When the officer approached the car, he said he smelled an odor of marijuana and saw vomit on the ground. The driver who allegedly smelled heavily of alcohol and was slurring his speech, first denied drinking, but then admitted to consuming several mixed drinks and beers. He is reported to have told officers he was coming from a party and looking for his girlfriend.

When the officer asked the alleged drunk driver for his license, the driver first handed the officer a card. When the officer looked at the card and asked the suspect why he handed him a McDonald’s gift card, the suspect responded “Oops, I’ll take that,” and grabbed the card back from the officer.
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According to a recent article from the LA Times, California Highway Patrol (CHP) officers were responding to a suspected drunk driving related car accident when the suspect allegedly stole their police vehicle.

Authorities say they responded to a report of a crash on Interstate 15. The driver of a Ford Focus had allegedly crashed into a truck’s trailer at what they estimate was a very high rate of speed.

After arriving on scene, a responding trooper called a tow truck. A trooper handcuffed defendant and put him in the right front passenger seat of the police car. It is actually a common practice to place a suspect in the front seat if the vehicle does not have a transport cage in the rear. Authorities will typically call for a transport vehicle to take suspects to the station.

While troopers were speaking with the tow truck operator, defendant apparently was able to put his legs through his arms, getting his cuffed hands to the front of his body. He then allegedly fled the scene of the drunk driving car accident in the police car. When officers saw this, they jumped in the tow truck and told the driver to follow their police cruiser.

At this point, suspect is said to have left the highway at the next exit and turned down a dirt road before slamming into a boulder. The driver then exited the cruiser and fled on foot into an area of heavy brush. Law enforcement dispatched an air unit to locate suspect, who was quickly found and taken into custody without any further trouble.

Prosecutors charged suspect with drunk driving, resisting arrest, and auto theft.

It should be noted nobody was reported as being injured in the initial drunk driving car accident or the alleged car chase involving a stolen trooper car.
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There is no question driving a car while intoxicated can lead to a serious accident. There is also no question distracted driving, such as a reading or sending text messages, can also lead to a major car accident. According to a recent news article from the Braintree Patch, police arrested a man who was allegedly texting while driving drunk.

Authorities say they saw defendant driving his vehicle toward Holbrook just after midnight. He was allegedly driving in excess of 30 mph over the posted speed limit before stopping at a red traffic signal. His vehicle did not move for about 30 seconds after the traffic light changed to green. When police pulled defendant over, they reportedly observed driver to have glassy and bloodshot eyes. He was pulled over because, as police say, he almost swerved into a large snowbank.

Defendant supposedly admitted to officers he was texting on his phone and was on his way home from work. He allegedly also told arresting officers he consumed two alcoholic beverages before getting behind the wheel.
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According to a recent news report from TMZ, Utah police arrested former porn star Asia Carrera for drunk driving with her minor daughter in her car. Witnesses say they found Carrera passed out on a couch in her daughter’s school.

Police arrived and woke Carrera, who is alleged to have had a strong odor of alcoholic beverages. She supposedly admitted to drunk driving with her daughter in the car and took police to see her car.

Police then attempted to administer several standardized field sobriety tests, and she allegedly fell down during the walking phase of one test. Police administered a breath test, and they alleged she blew a 0.245, which is well over the legal limit of 0.08 grams of alcohol per hundred milliliters of blood. Police charged Carrera with driving under the influence (DUI) of intoxicating liquor with a minor. She was released on her personal recognizance later that day.
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Liability insurance not only covers injuries to victims in other car, but also can be used to compensate injured passengers in at-fault driver’s car. However, there is sometimes not enough coverage on a single policy to cover the full extent of all injuries.

Auto insurance liability insurance in Massachusetts has policy limits broken down into the three categories. A policy will have separate limits for a single injury, total injuries per accident, and property damage resulting from the accident. Some people have the state minimum insurance, while other people will have insurance well above the state mandatory minimums.

In the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the state requires minimum coverage $20,000 per injury, $40,000 per accident, and $5,000 in personal property of others coverage. Boston drunk driving accident lawyers typically express these figures as 20/40/5. When you are riding the T and see a poster for a company advertising cheap insurance with state minimum coverage, they are talking about 20/40/5.
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When we think of driving under the influence (DUI), we normally think of someone under the influence of alcohol. However, the typical charge in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is called operating a motor vehicle under the influence (OUI) of intoxicating liquor or drugs. This is because driving while on drugs is just as dangerous as drunk driving and is treated the same way in a civil car accident lawsuit.

To understand the dangers of driving while on drugs, we can look at recent horrific car crash involving a pedestrian death in Washington, DC. According to a recent news article from Fox, a man was driving his SUV when he allegedly sideswiped several vehicles and rear-ended another vehicle before fleeing the scene of the accident.

After fleeing the scene, he allegedly ran into a traffic light pole, which hit a building. He then lost control of his vehicle near the Government Accounting Office (GAO) building and rolled over, landing on a pedestrian and killing him. The car also hit another person in its path, causing serious personal injury.
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Actor Anthony Mackie, who is best known for roles in “Captain America: Winter Soldier”, “Eight Mile” and “The Hurt Locker” was recently convicted of driving under the influence according to a recent report from

According to a recent news report from the Daily Record, New Jersey police arrested two men who were involved in an alleged drunk driving car accident, which they later attempted to cover up. Authorities say one of the two men crashed his BMW earlier in the night after running a stop sign and hitting a guard rail on the opposite side of the road from which he was driving.

After crashing his car, suspect allegedly drove the heavily damaged vehicle home. It belonged to a family member. He then returned to the scene of the accident with another man who police also arrested that night. When officers arrived, they found two men walking in the intersection just before 3:00. Driver was not wearing a shirt. He supposedly told officers his shirt got wet, so he had removed it. The temperature that night was one degree with a severe wind chill.

Police found two mostly-empty five-gallon buckets of water in the backseat of their vehicle. Police say defendants had poured nearly all of the water onto the intersection to create black ice on the road surface, so this would be blamed as the cause of his earlier accident rather than being intoxicated.
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It should come as no surprise that college students tend to drink more heavily and more often than older Americans. With increased drinking also comes increased risk – not only risk with their own safety, but risk involving the safety of others.

According to a recent news article from Mass Live, Amherst police arrested two students for drunk driving (one involving a car accident) in the same night. The first arrested occurred just after 1 a.m. Defendant in this case is alleged to have been driving drunk when he crashed his car into a snow bank and then hit a utility pole. Luckily, in this case, nobody was injured.

However, as one can imagine, driving a car while intoxicated on an icy road could lead to serious personal injury. Even in many single car crashes, innocent victims are often injured. This could be a passenger in the car or a pedestrian.
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