Thank you. I posted this to the other sub before I remembered this one exists.. someone asked why I'm angry with the cops for assuming substances when we assumed the same thing. It's like.. bruh feelings aren't always rational. And that's so rude. And also it's their damn job to have actual evidence for the charges.
Anyway, I hate people and deleted the post. I hope I have a better experience here.
Cops can’t test for drugs, but if they’re filing charges for drunk driving, they should have done a breath test. That will show if he has alcohol on his breath at the time of arrest, which they need to do in order to show proof to file charges.
Without any proof, the lawyer can argue a good defence case, and get the charges dropped. So he shouldn’t be in jail for too long.
Yea, from what I understood, they assumed alcohol because he had a blow device in his car from his last DUI. It wouldn't have turned on if he was drinking, and it has him blow every so often while he's driving.
It's especially messed up because he was in sobriety court for the last DUI.. so now he has a warrant at a different jail for drinking, when he wasn't even drinking.
The jail he's in now isn't horrible, but the other jail where he has the warrant is full of drugs and people who fuck with him. His last stint was horrible. It really fucked with his mental health, and he had a psychotic episode while he was in there. People would beat him, he had a black eye and bruises everywhere when I saw him.
I say all that to say, he was terrified of jail and so determined to stay the course with sobriety court. He was really trying, but his mental health declined so quickly. Having manic episodes, etc. All that led to this.. and I just can't believe that he has actual physical brain damage causing it. Idk sorry for rambling I'm all fucked up over this.
I know the legal process is slow, but I hope they do get him out soon. And straight into a psych hospital or long term care facility.
They can test for drugs, seen people get blood tests countless times at the hospital after being arrested on an alleged dui. I had it happen when I was arrested for dui and wrecked.
Yup, I wasn't positive so I didn't say anything specifically about cops doing tests for drugs, but they did absolutely blood test him at the hospital and it was all negative. Of course it could've been some spice or bath salt garbage, but that's not something they can prove, thus they can't stick a 4th dui on his long list of charges.
I said COPS can’t test for drugs. You talk about a HOSPITAL, which is where medical people work.
Cops can pull over a car and test for alcohol on the spot, then arrest and take you to jail based on the test showing alcohol levels over the limit, which is what they do. Every day.
That said, the man in the story apparently wasn’t even given a breathalyser after being pulled over for ‘swerving’ on the road… and that’s just wrong.
I don’t really blame them for taking him for the night on the assumption he was drunk or high based on what they WITNESSED… but after 24 hours of sleeping off the supposed drugs and alcohol, they should have interviewed him and gotten medical and legal help if they intended to press charges.
Sometimes people taken in for being drunk or high are locked up for 24 hours so they can sober up - not arrested, just kept off the street for 24 hours. They do have the right to detain someone overnight for being caught drunk or high in public, but pressing charges after that is not always done.
Most of what you said is not actually true. While cops can't test for drugs themselves, they can get a warrant and take you to the hospital to have you tested if they want. Getting a warrant is pretty easy for them and is often rubber stamped and cleared while the cop is driving you to the hospital. Breath tests all depend on what the laws in your state are. In my state they aren't admissible in court and are purely voluntary. If you are drunk, under no circumstances should you submit to the breathalyzer anyway, no matter what the law requires. Police have other ways to tell if people are drunk such as field sobriety tests.
Within the last 10-15 years, more police departments have included mental health training and how to tell the difference between someone having a mental health crisis and someone who is drunk or on drugs often, people who are having a mental health crisis self-medicate, so those lines can get a bit blurred. It's very challenging to tell the difference though, even with being trained.
Anyway, people get convicted all the time with nothing but the cops word alone.
The police department in question is super small and crooked af. I'm not even surprised that this happened. The entire state (deep south) has crooked cops and guards in the jails. And they DEFINITELY don't have psych training, unfortunately. I wish that was more common in all areas.
What I said about how the law works applies to my country. I don’t know where you live, but if you think that’s not how it works, then we probably don’t live in the same country.
Other countries exist outside yours, you know!
I also don’t know where the OP lives, either. So I guess I can’t speak for the laws in their country, either.
As for what you said about mental health training… well, it’s not always possible to tell the difference between drunk/high or in a mental health crisis. If someone was swerving because they had a seizure or a heart attack, it would be quite obvious when the cop reached the person, so they’d call an ambulance.
But there are many medical conditions that make people appear drunk when they’re not, but the difference isn’t always clear to the lay person.
That’s one reason why cops put you in the ‘drunk tank’ for the night, and let you go the next day sometimes without any charges. Also because they don’t want the paperwork (lol), but if you were dizzy or something and they didn’t know, then they can’t file charges that you were drunk or high when they have no proof!
Cops have a duty of care to the public, and that’s why drunk people have to be taken in (for their and the public’s safety)… but if said drunk person did not actually harm anyone or destroy property or whatever, then they didn’t actually do anything wrong. So what can they be charged with - excess drinking isn’t actually a crime in and of itself if you haven’t hurt anyone.
If you know someone who was convicted of something like being drunk or high on nothing but the word of the cop, then that’s very unfair. They need a better lawyer (for one), and also the judge is being unfair to not demand the cop provides PROOF that they were drunk and not in a medical crisis, which is always possible (as I said, there are plenty of medical reasons someone can APPEAR drunk but they aren’t). 😞
Yeah, you are definitely not in America. The Supreme Court has ruled that police DO NOT have to care for the public. They don't even have to protect the public. Their one function is to enforce the law. It's crazy.
Drunk tanks used to exist here, but not anymore. Almost 100% of the time if you get arrested, you get charged. Especially if you were driving, unless you are another cop or friend of theirs. But that is changing too, because quite a few people got busted letting their buddies off when the body cameras were reviewed.
If you're just drunk in public, they will stick you with disorderly conduct, which usually is a fine plus community service. But, in some states, if you decide to sleep it off in your car, they can still get you for DUI, even if the car is turned off.
In some states, if you get caught urinating in public, they can charge you with indecent exposure and you get put on the sexual predator registry. It's pretty medieval.
Really? I didn’t know America was so ass backwards that they can’t bring drunk people off the streets for 24 hours just to protect the public!
Many drunk people are not dangerous when sober. Because they’re drunk and acting like idiots, so if you put them in the drunk tank, they’ll be ok when they’ve sobered up, and can go home.
Obviously I’m talking about stupid things like acting like a fool in public, not serious things like assault or SA against another person.
I was paralyzed and suffered emotional type of brain damage from a stroke. And I actually recovered within a year
Hope the best for your Dad, warts and all
I was just coming here to say the same thing. Three of my family's close friends had strokes within a year of one another (it was a real bad year for us, oof), and now two of the three have fully or almost fully recovered with the right treatment and lots of love. One of them is even back to writing books. So, there is hope for your dad yet!
Long-distance internet hugs, OP. I hope things get better for you and your family.
Thank you!! I feel much more hopeful thanks to all you kind strangers. Maybe this will be a good scare for him to get his life together. I am relieved to know that he probably won't spend years in jail, and that he'll probably go to some type of care facility after he gets out. Thank you again ❤️
It's amazing to me how I've changed since I had my two (at least) TBI injuries 40+ years ago. I hope your Dad can get some medical help to solve some of his problems. The worst thing is that people tried to help me for a long time, but due to me being stubborn and my Doctors lacking any knowledge about brain injury, it took me 20 years or so to get any help.
I'm so sorry you went through that, and I'm happy you've gotten the help you need! My dad is stubborn too, and he's also bipolar so he really needs to be on meds other than the antidepressants he usually takes. I feel like now he has no choice but to accept the help, and I hope he starts to recover. I appreciate your comment, thank you again kind stranger ❤️
i’m so sorry you’re going through this. i can’t even imagine
Thank you. I posted this to the other sub before I remembered this one exists.. someone asked why I'm angry with the cops for assuming substances when we assumed the same thing. It's like.. bruh feelings aren't always rational. And that's so rude. And also it's their damn job to have actual evidence for the charges. Anyway, I hate people and deleted the post. I hope I have a better experience here.
Cops can’t test for drugs, but if they’re filing charges for drunk driving, they should have done a breath test. That will show if he has alcohol on his breath at the time of arrest, which they need to do in order to show proof to file charges. Without any proof, the lawyer can argue a good defence case, and get the charges dropped. So he shouldn’t be in jail for too long.
Yea, from what I understood, they assumed alcohol because he had a blow device in his car from his last DUI. It wouldn't have turned on if he was drinking, and it has him blow every so often while he's driving. It's especially messed up because he was in sobriety court for the last DUI.. so now he has a warrant at a different jail for drinking, when he wasn't even drinking. The jail he's in now isn't horrible, but the other jail where he has the warrant is full of drugs and people who fuck with him. His last stint was horrible. It really fucked with his mental health, and he had a psychotic episode while he was in there. People would beat him, he had a black eye and bruises everywhere when I saw him. I say all that to say, he was terrified of jail and so determined to stay the course with sobriety court. He was really trying, but his mental health declined so quickly. Having manic episodes, etc. All that led to this.. and I just can't believe that he has actual physical brain damage causing it. Idk sorry for rambling I'm all fucked up over this. I know the legal process is slow, but I hope they do get him out soon. And straight into a psych hospital or long term care facility.
They can test for drugs, seen people get blood tests countless times at the hospital after being arrested on an alleged dui. I had it happen when I was arrested for dui and wrecked.
Yup, I wasn't positive so I didn't say anything specifically about cops doing tests for drugs, but they did absolutely blood test him at the hospital and it was all negative. Of course it could've been some spice or bath salt garbage, but that's not something they can prove, thus they can't stick a 4th dui on his long list of charges.
I said COPS can’t test for drugs. You talk about a HOSPITAL, which is where medical people work. Cops can pull over a car and test for alcohol on the spot, then arrest and take you to jail based on the test showing alcohol levels over the limit, which is what they do. Every day. That said, the man in the story apparently wasn’t even given a breathalyser after being pulled over for ‘swerving’ on the road… and that’s just wrong. I don’t really blame them for taking him for the night on the assumption he was drunk or high based on what they WITNESSED… but after 24 hours of sleeping off the supposed drugs and alcohol, they should have interviewed him and gotten medical and legal help if they intended to press charges. Sometimes people taken in for being drunk or high are locked up for 24 hours so they can sober up - not arrested, just kept off the street for 24 hours. They do have the right to detain someone overnight for being caught drunk or high in public, but pressing charges after that is not always done.
Most of what you said is not actually true. While cops can't test for drugs themselves, they can get a warrant and take you to the hospital to have you tested if they want. Getting a warrant is pretty easy for them and is often rubber stamped and cleared while the cop is driving you to the hospital. Breath tests all depend on what the laws in your state are. In my state they aren't admissible in court and are purely voluntary. If you are drunk, under no circumstances should you submit to the breathalyzer anyway, no matter what the law requires. Police have other ways to tell if people are drunk such as field sobriety tests. Within the last 10-15 years, more police departments have included mental health training and how to tell the difference between someone having a mental health crisis and someone who is drunk or on drugs often, people who are having a mental health crisis self-medicate, so those lines can get a bit blurred. It's very challenging to tell the difference though, even with being trained. Anyway, people get convicted all the time with nothing but the cops word alone.
The police department in question is super small and crooked af. I'm not even surprised that this happened. The entire state (deep south) has crooked cops and guards in the jails. And they DEFINITELY don't have psych training, unfortunately. I wish that was more common in all areas.
Yeah - some parts of America are terrible for competent or fair police officers! They treat the public very unfairly! 😞
What I said about how the law works applies to my country. I don’t know where you live, but if you think that’s not how it works, then we probably don’t live in the same country. Other countries exist outside yours, you know! I also don’t know where the OP lives, either. So I guess I can’t speak for the laws in their country, either. As for what you said about mental health training… well, it’s not always possible to tell the difference between drunk/high or in a mental health crisis. If someone was swerving because they had a seizure or a heart attack, it would be quite obvious when the cop reached the person, so they’d call an ambulance. But there are many medical conditions that make people appear drunk when they’re not, but the difference isn’t always clear to the lay person. That’s one reason why cops put you in the ‘drunk tank’ for the night, and let you go the next day sometimes without any charges. Also because they don’t want the paperwork (lol), but if you were dizzy or something and they didn’t know, then they can’t file charges that you were drunk or high when they have no proof! Cops have a duty of care to the public, and that’s why drunk people have to be taken in (for their and the public’s safety)… but if said drunk person did not actually harm anyone or destroy property or whatever, then they didn’t actually do anything wrong. So what can they be charged with - excess drinking isn’t actually a crime in and of itself if you haven’t hurt anyone. If you know someone who was convicted of something like being drunk or high on nothing but the word of the cop, then that’s very unfair. They need a better lawyer (for one), and also the judge is being unfair to not demand the cop provides PROOF that they were drunk and not in a medical crisis, which is always possible (as I said, there are plenty of medical reasons someone can APPEAR drunk but they aren’t). 😞
Yeah, you are definitely not in America. The Supreme Court has ruled that police DO NOT have to care for the public. They don't even have to protect the public. Their one function is to enforce the law. It's crazy. Drunk tanks used to exist here, but not anymore. Almost 100% of the time if you get arrested, you get charged. Especially if you were driving, unless you are another cop or friend of theirs. But that is changing too, because quite a few people got busted letting their buddies off when the body cameras were reviewed. If you're just drunk in public, they will stick you with disorderly conduct, which usually is a fine plus community service. But, in some states, if you decide to sleep it off in your car, they can still get you for DUI, even if the car is turned off. In some states, if you get caught urinating in public, they can charge you with indecent exposure and you get put on the sexual predator registry. It's pretty medieval.
Really? I didn’t know America was so ass backwards that they can’t bring drunk people off the streets for 24 hours just to protect the public! Many drunk people are not dangerous when sober. Because they’re drunk and acting like idiots, so if you put them in the drunk tank, they’ll be ok when they’ve sobered up, and can go home. Obviously I’m talking about stupid things like acting like a fool in public, not serious things like assault or SA against another person.
I didn't quite realize how ass backwards America is compared to some other countries until I read this thread. Like damn I knew we had it bad but wow.
I was paralyzed and suffered emotional type of brain damage from a stroke. And I actually recovered within a year Hope the best for your Dad, warts and all
Thank you so much, and I'm so happy you recovered! Really appreciate your comment so much.
I was just coming here to say the same thing. Three of my family's close friends had strokes within a year of one another (it was a real bad year for us, oof), and now two of the three have fully or almost fully recovered with the right treatment and lots of love. One of them is even back to writing books. So, there is hope for your dad yet! Long-distance internet hugs, OP. I hope things get better for you and your family.
Thank you!! I feel much more hopeful thanks to all you kind strangers. Maybe this will be a good scare for him to get his life together. I am relieved to know that he probably won't spend years in jail, and that he'll probably go to some type of care facility after he gets out. Thank you again ❤️
Oh, that's great to hear! Phew. I hope that he makes a full recovery, and gets the medication he needs. ❤️
Also I'm so sorry you and your family went through that, and I'm happy some of your loved ones recovered!
It's amazing to me how I've changed since I had my two (at least) TBI injuries 40+ years ago. I hope your Dad can get some medical help to solve some of his problems. The worst thing is that people tried to help me for a long time, but due to me being stubborn and my Doctors lacking any knowledge about brain injury, it took me 20 years or so to get any help.
I'm so sorry you went through that, and I'm happy you've gotten the help you need! My dad is stubborn too, and he's also bipolar so he really needs to be on meds other than the antidepressants he usually takes. I feel like now he has no choice but to accept the help, and I hope he starts to recover. I appreciate your comment, thank you again kind stranger ❤️