Pending public drunkeness, need advice...

I think companies are required to do a yearly check on their drivers while the requirement for drivers to certify any convictions in the past year ended. If all of that is true then it depends on where in that regular schedule of checking drivers your current company is right now. Ideally they would have checked your record the day before the incident and you would have until 364 days later to get this worked out. I don't know how you can find out if they have checked on you this year without alerting the company to check on you right now.

 

The trucking company MAY see the non-driving crime as related to being in possession of their very expensive truck and trailer, similar to leaving it parked in a crack neighborhood while you went to a strip club and the truck was stolen.

To the OP, the worry isn't helping you. The company will either find out, or they won't find out. The chances of you learning the legal system and the insurance system before the company may find out is petty slim. I understand you not know if you should stay put or change jobs. Maybe the new company will do a more thorough background check after you are officially hired and before you drive away on your first load. I don't know. There are fleet owners on this board that know everything about hiring drivers. Don't panic before you have to.

 

In some states you never have to drive one inch to get a DUI, just be in control of a vehicle while under the influence. You can be parked between a brick wall and a fallen tree behind you with the engine running while you are passed out drunk and get a DUI because the keys are in the ignition or in your pocket. You could have driven, you were drunk, you get the DUI. Don't play near the edges of the law unless you know exactly everything about that law.

 

In Massachusetts just having the key in the ignition is a “OUI’. You could be passed out in the back seat with the ignition off and be charged.

 

It's funny, I used to black out quite a bit starting at age 15, of course I drank quite a bit, and I just laughed it off. Now, after 41 years of sobriety, it scares the hell out of me. Go figure.

 

One dynamic I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around is that this charge is a summary offense and not a misdemeanor/felony where it happened, Pennsylvania, which is also an area where I don't have residency in, and how that all affects the background check.

 

I assume that once I get to the new job orientation, it's better not to lie if asked as I see a lot of posts about jobs reporting to DAC if you lie.

I think I'm going to go for the new job, hope they ask for another background since I did the first one on tenstreet, and be honest if it's directly asked.

I think I'm also gonna ask my current company for a week off and just slide back in with them if it goes south, as I know of another driver who took a break, returned the truck and just came back later to get a new truck and kept working...

 

In 68 years, I never blacked out, ever, unless you call so tired from driving 19 hours, blacking out when you finally stop. I never did things that would cause loss of conscientiousness and would be pretty scary. I can't imagine why anyone would do something to such excess, as to black out the goal. Drugs too. I suppose that's the illness. I HAD a good friend, drank a CASE OF BEER A DAY,,,EVERYDAY. We were supposed to come to Colorado together, but he went off his nut, and is in an institution, I think, or dead. He had a slew of troubles, and wanted to "drink them off his mind",,,and did.
My final thought: Had this person not been "found", woke up, got in the truck and started driving, is a pretty dangerous scenario, and I'm sure goes on everyday. The cops saved a couple lives that day.

 

A blackout happens when it happens. Sometimes it's after mass quantities of alcohol and other times not so much. If you encounter a person while they're in a blackout, you'll never know. They don't have a clue they'll never remember what they are doing. There are public stories of people doing amazing, but stupid things while in a blackout lasting days. The important idea here is you have no control over what you will do or when you will slip into one. That's why it's so dangerous.