After being cooped-up indoors for months due to a brutally cold winter, Americans made sure to get out and travel this Memorial Day weekend. Along with the backyard barbeques and trips to the swimming pool, there were unfortunately a few accidents on the road.
One Virginia man was charged with a DUI after a crash killed a passenger in his car. The driver and the passenger were taken to the hospital after the single-vehicle wreck along a local two-lane road. The passenger died shortly afterwards as a result of crash-related injuries. The investigation is still being conducted, but authorities have reported that the 44-year-old driver was charged with a DUI and “unreasonable refusal” to take a blood test.
Virginia State Police issued almost 14,000 tickets for speeding and just over 3,000 tickets for reckless driving. Officers also arrested, and charged 142 drivers with DUIs.
There were eight fatal crashes across the state over the course of the weekend out of 463 investigated accidents. While the number of crashes dropped since last year’s Memorial weekend, there are still many drivers out there facing charges after being involved in an accident.
When a driver is charged with drunk driving, there are many ways he can defend himself. One common defense is that the original police stop was improper or the police did not have probable cause to make the stop. Another common defense is to show that the Breathalyzer test or field sobriety test was administered incorrectly. If a driver refuses to submit to such a test, they will likely face a license suspension, but it will be harder to prove that they were under the influence.
Source: The Free Lance-Star, “Sportsylvania driver charged with DUI in fatal wreck,” Portsia Smith, May 29, 2014
