Women Face DUI Charges For Pushing Car

AP ^

[Millee]

Drunken driving can also be drunken pushing -- at least to police in Portage, Ind.

Kaylyn Kezy and Melissa Fredenburg both face DUI charges after the car they were pushing crashed into a parked car. Police said the women took turns pushing the non-running car while the other steered.

After the accident, officers said both women tested with a blood-alcohol level more than twice the legal limit.

Prosecutor Adam Burroughs admitted the case might be a tough one to prove in court. But he noted that the women were in effect operating the vehicle -- even though the car wasn't running at the time.

[Millee]

PUI?????

[L98Fiero]

DUI on horseback, DUI on a bicycle, DUI for sleeping it off in a parked car, etc. If you are a drinker, stay the hell at home. That is the message being sent.

[Ed_NYC]

Or never leave the bar...

[Homer1]

This is just flat-out ridiculous.

[siunevada]

the car they were pushing crashed into a parked car.

No contest on the under the influence, your honor.

[Tsunamii]

If the keys were in the ignition (so she could steer the car without the column locking) they are dead in the water.

[JimRed]

Or never leave the bar...

A couple of the towns in our shore resort area have shuttle vans covering the bar circuit; there's also a bar-hopping water taxi on one of our rivers!

[cspackler]

Police said the women took turns pushing the non-running car while the other steered.

Sorry, they're still too dangerous and stupid to be anywhere near the road.

[HEY4QDEMS]

Won't even make it to trial IMO

[HawaiianGecko]

<> Hmmm... Of course your example has four possibilities. 00,01,10,11.... Still, I can appreciate the humor. lol

[massgopguy]

How about pushing a shopping cart while drinking the wines of The Fenway?

[Sweet_Sunflower29]

She could have just had her 10 year old drive her home

[mysterio]

That a judge would allow that says a lot about the courts. If you are pushing the car, you are not operating it. Is it also DUI to push a piano or a grocery cart while drunk?

[tcostell]

It's probably just poor reporting (can you imagine?) ... they were probably actually charged with public intoxication but the reporting didn't think their readers would understand what that means.

[Millee]

Is it also DUI to push a piano or a grocery cart while drunk?

Lord, I hope not!! ;-)

[acad1228]

They were prolly charged with actual phisical control of a vehicle while intoxicated. They (the women) are gonna hafta pay for this one.

[acad1228]

phisical - physical.

[mysterio]

Pushing a car is not driving a car. The law is against operating while drunk. Pushing is not operating. If the gubmint is that dumb, then the gubmint has proven it cannot be trusted to enforce its own laws.

You know, we have bars. Bars exist to sell alcohol. Technically, it's illegal to be drunk inside one. It's illegal to have a designated driver take you home. Or to hail a cab while drunk. Or to walk home to be safe instead of drive while drunk. It's all flirting with prohibition, which doesn't work. It's just a puritanical disapproval of alcohol. Make it illegal again and deal with the crime that generates.

[acad1228]

Pushing a car is not driving a car. The law is against operating while drunk. Pushing is not operating.

You know that and I know that, but the law (at least here in Oklahoma) says that even if you're sitting in the car, or sitting on the tailgate of your pick-up, it's not running, and the keys are in your pocket, even if the vehicle is in your driveway or in a parking lot, you are in actual physical control of that vehicle.

One woman was pushing; controling the speed.
One woman was steering; controling the direction.
That's where the law says they were wrong.

Admittedly, it's stupid, but the women did damage another vehicle so they are responsible for that.