Drunk driving cases are never taken lightly because of the serious impact they can have on all the people sharing the road with the drunk driver. Drivers and pedestrians alike are at very high risk when a person decides to get behind the wheel while they are intoxicated. However, a person does not have to be driving recklessly for them to get pulled over and charged with DUI. Such was the case with radio-host, Alex Jones.
Alex Jones was pulled over around midnight by officers and taken into the police department on the accusation of driving while intoxicated. It wasn’t his bad driving, however, that caused the officers to target his vehicle. Earlier on in the day, his wife had called the police regarding a family disturbance that had been both verbal and physical. Officers pulled Jones over and noticed that there was a strong smell of alcohol coming from his vehicle. As per protocol, he was requested to carry out sobriety tests and officers say he was unable to follow through with them properly.
However, despite the odor and his inability to coordinate himself well, his blood-alcohol level only came out to be 0.076% which was just short of the 0.08% required to prove he was driving under the influence. He was still put into jail but was released after a few hours on a $3000 bond. He has not been cleared of a DUI charge, however, and still must go to court to determine what his penalties will be.
Though having a BAC of 0.08% and above definitely increases the chances of a person getting hit with DUI charges, it is not necessary for a person to be this intoxicated to face legal penalties. If a person was unable to drive properly and their behavior clearly showed that they did not have a proper handle on their senses and proper control over their body, officers can arrest them and charge them with DUI regardless of their BAC level. This is especially true if a person managed to get into a serious accident or if they injured someone while they were DUI.
In such cases, a person can be faced with both driving under the influence charges, and other criminal charges corresponding to the damage that was done and the number of individuals who were hurt. Calling a DUI lawyer is a good way to ensure a person is taking every precaution to protect themselves from invalid charges. Sometimes, the devices that officers use to measure the BAC levels are not in proper working order and they give an unexpectedly high number. If a lawyer can prove that the device was faulty a person may even have their name cleared entirely and their charges lifted from their record.