Rolling up car windows and almost got a DUI. Thank God!!!!

Sounds like the female officer was pi$$ed about not finding a perp, so she was looking for anything to justify her going out to your apartment complex to investigate. A quick feel of the engine should have satisfied her that you had not driven anywhere. Cold engine = no driving. Plain and simple.

 

next time, roll up your windows BEFORE you start toking a few beers.>??

and you were on private property, i'll have to wonder if since you were not actually driving or had the engine running, what could they realistically do.>??

i was under the impression that the engine had to be running, for it to be an OUI or whatever.....

 

You’re lucky. Here if you are in the vehicle with the keys in your possession you can get a DUI even if you are sitting in your own driveway.

 

The fact is, you do not have to be driving to be arrested for a DUI.You just need to be in the driver's seat of a car and be in possession of the keys. To the law in most states, this means you are in physical control of the car, even though you are not driving. Your keys do not even have to be in the ignition.

We had an Amish kid get a DUI in a horse and buggy while he was passed out and a gentleman get one while riding on a motorized bar stool riding on the sidewalk.

 

I think the female officer had a bad attitude cause you did not invite her up for a few beers!

 

It's a catch 22.

You can't get a ticket on private property but you can get a dui on private property.

 

The states all have different DUI laws, Nebraska it has to be a motorized vehicle and it has to be on a public roadway.The exception to that is if the private property has a public entrance like a retail store, but you would have to check the law in your state.

 

Seems like it would've been easy enough to beat, as your friends would've been able to witness to the fact that you had not been driving since you started drinking, that you had only gone outside to roll up your windows when it started raining, and that you weren't going anywhere but back inside to resume hanging out once your windows were rolled up.

While it might have been troublesome and possibly even expensive, I doubt it would've gone very far. Prosecutors don't like cases they know they are unlikely to win, and there isn't a jury in the world that would convict under those circumstances with several witnesses testifying on your behalf as to your activities leading up to your interaction with the police as well as your intent when you went out to your car.

Hell, you probably could have told the officers you just came out to roll up the windows when it started raining and were heading right back inside and 99.9% of the time, they aren't going to bother you for the drinking if they're reasonably sure you haven't been and won't be driving under the influence. They know that most cars you can't roll up the windows without the keys, and that nobody is going to sit there and say "Gee whiz, it's raining and my windows are open...too bad I've had a few, because I don't want to get a DUI for rolling them up! Guess my interior is going to get soaked." Anybody who cares about their car is going to walk outside and roll up the windows.

Most of those DUI's in parked cars are because the officer has reason to believe you had been operating drunk, wised up, and pulled over to park before you crashed or got pulled over...or simply got into the vehicle intending to drive, but passed out before you could go anywhere.

When you have several witnesses that state you were not driving, were not going to be driving, coupled with the onset of a rain shower and the fact that no reasonable person is going to knowingly leave their windows open in the rain, odds are pretty good you had nothing to worry about.

 

Depends upon the state. Hell, when the police chief's mom lived next door, I'd give him a beer when he was mowing her yard and he'd knock mine out, too...sipping on that ice cold beer as he was driving his mower.