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UGA student arrested for DUI after ‘staring’ at officer’s car

| Jan 30, 2013 | Underage DUI |

In Georgia, drivers who are 21 and older may be charged with driving under the influence of alcohol when they have a blood alcohol reading of 0.08. The legal limit is not the same for underage drivers, though, since it is illegal for folks to consume alcohol when they are younger than 21. Therefore, drivers younger than the age of 21 may be charged with underage DUI for having a blood alcohol reading of only 0.02 in Georgia.

So what may lead to an arrest for underage drinking when drivers have consumed only a small amount of alcohol? According to one recent arrest, staring at a police officer’s car is all it takes to make an officer suspicious of a driver.

The Red & Black reported earlier this week that a 20-year-old University of Georgia student was arrested over the weekend for allegedly driving drunk. According to a police report from the University of Georgia Police Department, the student was driving past an officer’s car, and as he drove past the vehicle, the officer noticed that the student was staring “intently” at his patrol vehicle.

The officer then made a U-turn to follow the driver. According to the officer’s report, the driver then turned onto a different street and his vehicle’s tire hit a curb when doing so. The officer then conducted a traffic stop.

While speaking with the driver, the officer noted that he could detect the odor of alcohol. The student said that he only had one alcoholic beverage with his dinner. The officer then asked the student to take several field sobriety tests. The student was arrested because the officer said that he had reason to believe that it was not safe for the student to drive since he was supposedly under the influence of alcohol. A breath test was performed and the student blew a 0.03.

Since the student blew more than a 0.02, he could face having a conviction on his record. Students who find themselves in this type of situation or similar situations may want to work with a defense attorney who will aggressively fight to win defendants’ cases or to reach more favorable outcomes for students who have been accused of drinking and driving.

Source: The Red & Black, “Police Blotter – Jan. 28,” Kelly Whitmire, Jan. 29, 2013

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