I hate PI laws. They nearly killed my boyfriend a few years ago.

In Texas, it's up to the officer's "discretion" whether a person is drunk. No BAC test has to be administered. As a result, many suspect that the police often just use PI laws as an excuse to throw someone in jail.

A few years ago, my boyfriend (who had NOT been drinking) was walking back to his car. He was beaten and left lying in the street. A police officer found him and, because he was near a street of bars, the officer assumed he was drunk and had been in a fight. Because of my BF's head injuries, he couldn't remember why he was lying there.

So, instead of taking the severely beaten man to a hospital, the officer took him to...the drunk tank. This was bad because my BF had internal bleeding in his brain. When his mother saw him the next day, she took him straight to the hospital. He almost died.

Thanks, Amy.

And, as you pointed out, PI laws actually punish people who make good, safe decisions, like the woman you cited who had a sober friend drive her home. In Texas, cops seem to stake out the late-night restaurants that drunk people often stumble into to sober up at 2 am. My worry is that these people, afraid of getting caught, will be less likely to go to safe places next time.

I got hassled for an open container in NJ a few years ago. I often buy a bottle of beer to have on the train home (the last leg of my commute). This one day I bought the beer and my train was cancelled, an hour wait for the next, so I went into the station waiting room and sat down to have my beer and read my book until my train was ready to board. A cop told me I couldn't have the beer in the waiting room, I had to bring it to the bar there at the station (which is not where I bought it). When I told her I didn't buy the beer there she said "I could write you a $600 ticket if you like."

Mind you, I wasn't drunk, I wasn't disorderly, I wasn't bothering anyone. I just had an open bottle of beer in my hand.

So...
You can't drink and drive.
You can't drink and be a passenger.
You can't drink and walk/stumble home.
You can't drink and sleep in your car.

So how...pray tell, is a drunk supposed to get home?

By riding in the back of a police car?

I said it before, this country is going to hell in a bucket and the ride is no longer enjoyable. Even less so if we can't even have a stinkin' beer!

o.O

Even better than PI laws are open container laws. From my original home state of Ohio...Technically:
You may not have open containers in a moving vehicle.
You may not walk down the street with an open container.
You may not have open containers outside your house in some cities and towns.
The township where Blossom Music Center was (think outdoor concerts) changed their OC laws so that you couldn't sit in the parking lot drinking before the concert. They even had cops arrest people drinking in limos at a Barry Manilow concert (true story).
A 6/8/12/18 pack missing a bottle or can is technically considered an open container.
I know people who were cited for having an empty beer can in the car that was weeks old (don't ask).
Read more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_container_law
I like how they mention Beale Street in Memphis, as it would be hard to prohibit open containers where they sell them open out on the sidewalks.

Amy wrote:

Carry an opened but capped bottle in your trunk and it's apparently like you're slamming vodka and tonics while behind the wheel.

No. California law specifically provides that you can carry opened containers of alcohol in a trunk or other area of a vehicle not normally occupied by passengers.

http://dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/d11/vc23225.htm

That's the norm in most states.

A few years ago, the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission got into quite a bit of trouble for arresting people for PI who were drunk in the bars of the hotels they were staying in.

In Austin:
1)Cops will blood test you without your consent if they've dubbed it "no refusal weekend". (Our police chief is from California, btw...)
2) They will take you to jail even if you don't receive a clean bill of health from the ER (My friend flipped off of his motorcycle and hit a tree. The police found him, unconsious, with a concussion. They took him to the hospital, the staff told them he had a head injury... and they took him to jail.)

Obviously we can no longer trust our political leadership to vote sensible laws, and we can no longer trust those empowered to enforce them, to enforce them with any measure of common sense.

I say that the populace at large needs to start clogging the system to the point of its own destruction. And start scrapping these overly broad destructive laws.

...like women's suffrage. ;)

We need more cops like the local one. If you're too drunk to drive, all you have to do is give him a call. He'll give you a free ride home so you make it safely. A few people I know tell that he's actually let them leave their vehicles on the side of the road and drove them home, instead of a ride to the jailhouse.

Ugh, all the negative comments about Texas make me want to pack my stuff for our imminent move even less.

Oh, it's not that bad, Cat. Most of the PI and DWI charges get thrown out, anyway. Which city are you moving to?

Cat, I am not Texas's (or Austin's) biggest fan -- but there are many redeeming qualities. However, it's like 107 degrees out right now, so it's hard to think of any. :)

Oh, and as a TX newcomer myself, I hadn't heard about the arrests in hotel bars that ahw just referred to. I found an old news story about it. The incident started the huge public outcry that now keeps PI arrests *somewhat* in check:

From the article (http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/2009/07/19/0719tabc.html):

The arrest arguably did not prevent a DWI; the woman had a room at the hotel that night. The TABC agent contended she was a danger to herself because she had no one to escort her to her room.

Yep, the legislature totally cracked down on the TABC that session. Our politicians tend to be drinkers.

I recently had an encounter with law enforcement.

It was brought up that I had been stopped back in 2002 for having had an open container of beer.

The day I was stopped had been a totally bad one at work. I just popped it and was sipping it on the way home (about 30 minutes). I was stopped for a light out on my license plate.

They wanted to bring up a minor incident, nine years ago as a pattern.

This is now the Zero Tolerance that everyone wants.

I always thought Drunk In Public was supposed to be used/misused as an anti-vagrancy statute. So it pisses me off when I read , "Man arrested walking home." If he has a home he's not a vagrant.

I think the lack of resistance comes because the good people of this world are afraid to admit that they find value in social drinking. The Man knows no-body important is going to stick his neck out for this one.

"The TABC agent contended she was a danger to herself because she had no one to escort her to her room." - Stick around till closing, baby.

It's safe to assume that if you live in a city that is still growing (ex. in production of new neighborhoods and paving out roadways) that it is a vast expense. People that can afford it simply don't want to and have means to go about avoiding doing so. So, when these expenses look worse than usual on city financials, or somehow halt the trickle down economy the average joe with little investment in that city is the unfortunate source of that income.


Personally, I'd rather just pay the higher taxes than be forced into a legal situation when I've clearly done nothing wrong. I get that cops don't like be mouthed off to, who does? They're just doing their jobs pulling in city money... Or? Wait.... They protect and serve the city finances... Something like that. Anyway, they just want to be met with a smile while they're potentially ruining all areas of your life for a little while. Geez. Pulling teeth isn't so bad when you see that they could be busted out instead, right?