Posted on 03/15/2007 12:59:56 PM PDT by pissant
Kicking off a new crackdown on drunken driving in New York City, police officers seized the cars of three drivers late Sunday and yesterday -- including one from a Staten Island librarian with no prior arrests and another from a 57-year-old Queens man with a long record of driving while intoxicated.
The seizures came as Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani hinted at how tough the crackdown might be, saying that even those ultimately acquitted of drunken driving in criminal court could still face the prospect of losing their cars through proceedings in civil courts.
"Let's say somebody is acquitted, and it's one of those acquittals in which the person was guilty, but there is just not quite enough evidence beyond a reasonable doubt," the Mayor said. "That might be a situation in which the car would still be forfeited."
Civil libertarians promised legal challenges to the new policy, which is considered among the strictest against drunken driving in the nation. But the first round of seizures suggested that the city would not shy away from confiscating the cars of drivers whose blood-alcohol level was at or above the legal limit and gave an early glimpse of what drivers in the city could expect.
In one case that was held up by prosecutors as a model of how the program could work, the police arrested and seized the car of Francisco Almonte of Corona, Queens, who had been arrested eight times for drunken driving and was on probation for his last conviction.
Mr. Almonte, 57, was involved in an accident on Sunday night, and was arrested at 6:15 P.M. after a Breathalyzer test indicated that his blood-alcohol level was 0.19, almost double the legal limit of 0.10 percent, prosecutors said.
Four hours later, in Brooklyn, the police arrested Pavel Grinberg, 28,
(Excerpt) Read more at iulaw.indy.indiana.edu ...
Woohoo, you can cut and paste something about double jeopardy. Wow, I'm like so impressed. Next you'll be quoting a Perry Mason episode to me.
Heheh----bad company, eh?
Ah, another example about how tough-guy Rudy totally eliminated crime, SINGLEHANDEDLY, in New York City. He may not be a fascist but he's an obvious control-freak statist that I don't want having any say over the way I live.
That's the same lame argument the liberals use when defending his anti-constitutional gun grabbing: Is he going to take all your guns away?
Just like with guns, this is yet another illustration of his piss poor understanding or disregard of the constitution and law. As was his protection of illegal aliens from federal deportation and his unlawful searches and seizures based on anonymous tips.
Not only is he a liberal, he is wiping his rear end with the constitution.
Woohoo is right. You didn't even understand OJ's case, nancy.
I see you got the joke...LOL!
"What will happen to you if you're pulled over for drunk driving? Most states have "per se laws" that say it's a crime to drive with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) at or above a certain level. Typically, license suspension or revocation follows a conviction for drunk driving. In addition, some states impose an administrative license suspension, where licenses are taken before conviction when a driver fails or refuses to take a chemical test."
http://info.insure.com/auto/injury/iihsalcohol982.html
Hey, Perry, licenses can be revoked without conviction. Huh? Like, Oh My God, how can this be? Don't they, you know, require a conviction first?
No, a conviction is not required for all sorts of State-imposed penalties. Driving is a privilege, not a right. Rudy was pushing the envelope a bit, but he was following a long line of precedent in what he was trying to do.
I understand it a whole lot better than you, apparently, Perry.
So much so that you thought the State lost the criminal and then proceeded with a civil case.
You're a fool and I'd done with you.
Thanks for stopping by, dear. Be sure to write.
He's superman, dontchya know. And, only the good things he did are fair game for examining his often sordid past.
It is true that you, in this post, point out the problem of those who've had their licenses revoked or suspended.
I'll make a basic assumption that you were referring to actions that were taken as punishment / precaution after the DUI perp was found guilty in a court of law.
However, the entire point of the article was that Guiliani was trying to take such actions despite the person being acquitted in a court of law. You seemed to be defending Guiliani in this matter.
To the extent that you were bringing up a different situation than that discussed in the posted article, you have me.
To the extent that you were coming to the defense of Guiliani, and this inexcusable policy he took, I have you.
Fair?
Now, regarding "problem of those who've had their licenses revoked or suspended", I'll repeat what I said before: throw the book at them. Throw them in jail. Do whatever it takes to both keep them off the road for public safety, and punish them for public justice. But take those steps within the rules of our justice system, lest we turn into a police state.
He did not date is as current.
Note to self: read the fine print.
Note to pissant: Why not disclose the real date in your parentheses? Some of us assume that articles posted to "News and Activism" are less than eight years old.
See #175.
Fine suggestion. I'll take it under advisement. But please note it is news AND activism. This is both
Ohhh the humanity! LoL
Hmmmmm...how come no one objected about this until now?
Net Archives:
New York City to seize cars in drunken driving stops
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, The, Feb 21, 1999
In what city officials describe as the toughest such policy in the nation, the New York City Police Department will begin seizing cars from people arrested on charges of drunken driving, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani announced Saturday.
The plan, which is to take effect Monday, will allow a police officer to seize a suspect's car where it is stopped, regardless of the driver's circumstances.
"This will be a very, very useful way to reduce even more the number of traffic fatalities in the city," Giuliani said. "If you've had even one drink, you should find somebody else to drive your automobile or you should stay where you are, or use public transportation. We have to find every possible way to get that message across to people." Legal experts said the initiative raised constitutional issues but could act as a deterrent. "If you can put the driver in jail for being drunk while driving, it seems to me there's no greater deprivation in taking the instrumentality of that crime from him," said Richard Uviller, a professor of criminal law at Columbia University Law School. "It's a draconian measure, there's no question about it. But if people know they could lose their cars if they drink too much, they may not drive them, and that could be very effective." Laws in 22 states authorize municipal officials to confiscate the cars of drunken drivers, but virtually all those laws involve repeat offenders, officials with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration have said. (Wisconsin law allows authorities to seize the car of a drunken driver who has three or more convictions.) The leaders of civil liberties groups bristled Saturday at Giuliani's plan and and promised to seek constitutional challenges to it in court. Norman Siegel, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, said the law gave too much authority to the police to determine punishment. "It's not up to the police commissioner to impose the penalty," he said. Last year, New York City police made 6,368 arrests for driving while intoxicated, in which a driver's blood-alcohol level is 0.10 or higher. In New York, drivers can also be stopped for driving while impaired, in which the threshold for blood alcohol is 0.06 to 0.09. But the new seizure policy will affect only driving while intoxicated, said Police Commissioner Howard Safir. The mayor's plan was enthusiastically endorsed by a representative of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, a national organization that has long advocated harsher penalties for drunken drivers. "Drunk driving is a violent crime, and the weapon of choice is a vehicle," said Maureen Fisher-Riccardella, president of the New York state chapter of the organization.
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