Alhambra DUI, 0.25% BAC, Client Asleep in Car in Traffic

Our client, age 47, went out for drinks with some of her friends from work on a Saturday evening in Alhambra.  Our client was a principal of a local intermediate school (who name will not be shared here).  The group enjoyed some margaritas and, apparently, our client drank quite a few.

At about 8:00 p.m., the group said their good bye’s to each other and each headed home.  Our client got in her 2021 Ford Mustang and headed home, too.

Our client became lost and found herself driving northbound on Monterrey Avenue toward Pasadena.  She also became sleepy due to all the alcohol she had consumed.  She crossed Huntington Avenue while still heading northbound and decided to pull over to sleep.

Our client thought she was pulled over in a parking lane and that she was doing the responsible thing by deciding to stop driving because she was drunk.  After all, she had been convicted of DUI twelve years earlier in Riverside Superior Court and was well aware of the dangers of DUI and the punishment if convicted for DUI.

Our client therefore pulled over and put her car in park, determined to take a nap to let the effects of alcohol pass.  A video security camera from a residence at that spot showed our client pulling over to stop.  The video was time stamped and showed the time our client stopped driving.

About five minutes later, two Monrovia Police Department officers responded to the location after there was a report of a driver asleep in the slow lane of northbound Monterrey Avenue.

The body-cam video of one officer showed the officer tapping on the driver’s side window of our client’s car and waking up our client.  Our client was clearly surprised by the officers and upset that they would not just let her continue her nap.

Officers explained that she was parked in a traffic lane and that she could be hit by another car.

Our client was then arrested and taken to the Monrovia police station, where an hour and twenty minutes after parking her car, her breath was tested for its alcohol content and measured 0.25%. 

She was then held for several hours before being released.  When asked who her employer was, she refused to answer. 

 

She was finally released about noon the following day and signed a promise to appear in the Alhambra Superior Court in about three months.

The client then called Greg Hill & Associates based on the recommendation of another attorney she knew.

Greg listened to the client explain what had happened, although she admitted she “blacked out” after leaving the restaurant.  She only thing she remembered was that the next thing that happened was she was in a police station.  She did not understand exactly how or why she was arrested.  The client stated that she had a prior DUI from twelve years earlier and wanted to know if her punishment for the current DUI would be more because of that prior DUI.

Greg answered that this did happen, but not always and that the Alhambra District Attorney’s office was generally not too aggressive or vindictive.  Greg explained his experience with the Alhambra judges and DA’s, as well as what the statutory minimum punishment was for a first-time DUI.  Since the client’s BAC was high, Greg recommended that the client begin the AB 1353 alcohol awareness program.

The client then retained Greg Hill & Associates and Greg then went to court for the client.  Greg received the police report, which he shared with the client.  Greg also received the body cam video of the officers involved as well as the home security video of the resident across the street from where our client pulled over to park.

Eventually, the case was resolved uneventfully for no jail, three years of informal, or summary probation, with an obligation for our client to enroll in and complete the nine-month alcohol awareness program (she did five months of it before her plea), payment of a court fine of $390 plus penalties and assessments (her fine was $968 after two days of credit was applied) and an obligation to attend the Hospital and Morgue (HAM) program as well as the Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) victim impact panel.