Micheal Phelps arrested for DUI *Update* Suspended from US team for 6 months

[Fern]

Here is what I don't get w/ DUIs: with any other offense, criminal or traffic, you get your bail back if you prevail - why not with DUIs?

A friend of mine was charged over $500 for impounding fees when he was arrested for a DUI (it was a Friday night and he did not get out to retrieve the car on the following Saturday, lot was closed Sunday, so they charged him for three nights of storage when he got to the car on Monday).

His BAC was below the legal limit and charges weren't even filed.

Yet, he took a nice $500 hit for it.

Bail =/= towing and impound fees.

You'll get your bail back if you show up for court, even if you're found guilty.

Fern

 

[jlee]

Problem with HGN tests is they are not given properly most of the time. One they work best in well lit areas. A flashlight to the face isn't ideal. Neither are flashing police lights and passing vehicles all which cause some nystagmus.

Every DUI arrest I made using HGN for proof of alcohol impairment was corroborated with a blood/breath test that did not disagree with my initial assessment.

Do you have direct professional experience to contradict my own?

 

[Corporate Thug]

Bail =/= towing and impound fees.

You'll get your bail back if you show up for court, even if you're found guilty.

Fern

That's only the case in criminal cases because usually there are no monetary penalties other than possible restitution to be determined at trial.

That's not the case in traffic cases, which are consider "quasi-criminal." When you are contesting a ticket, you must put up bail - at least here in LA County - which is the same amount as the ticket fine based on the County fee schedule. Only then will the Court even give you a trial date. If you prevail at trial, you get your bail back. If you lose, it's the same as a pre-paid ticket.

In any event, the point I was making is that this aspect of the system is completely unjust. The second you are arrested, your vehicle is impounded. You have to pay a ton of $ to get it back and the fact that you prevail against the allegations does means nothing in getting that $ back.

 

[alkemyst]

Every DUI arrest I made using HGN for proof of alcohol impairment was corroborated with a blood/breath test that did not disagree with my initial assessment.

Do you have direct professional experience to contradict my own?

Could I?

 

[natto fire]

But that isn't a difference in principle, just a difference in degree. Gambling is still gambling, no matter if you're just betting heads or tails, or picking 5 numbers on a lottery ticket.

In other words, the analogy is perfectly apt in principle.

By your logic, why do anything, if you have a 50/50 chance of each day being your last? Every single day that heads or tails chance you will die looming over you. Yeah, you increase your mortality rate by drinking and driving, but in the end you come back to that 50/50.

 

[Miramonti]

Could I?

I think he said 'put up or shut up', but that's just one person's assesment.

 

[Cerpin Taxt]

By your logic, why do anything, if you have a 50/50 chance of each day being your last?

You do not seem to understand my reasoning. I have not argued that every day represents a 50% chance of one's death. My point is that putting other persons at unnecessarily increased risk of death is itself an offense to which those persons are victims, whether or not they die.

Every single day that heads or tails chance you will die looming over you. Yeah, you increase your mortality rate by drinking and driving, but in the end you come back to that 50/50.

You do not just increase your own chance of death, but that of those around you. To do so is negligent -- a breach of duty to those people.

 

[Jodell88]

UPDATE:

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Olympic swimming great Michael Phelps has been suspended for six months from USA Swimming-sanctioned competition after his arrest for driving under the influence in Baltimore last week.


In announcing the decision Monday, USA Swimming also said Phelps will be withdrawn from the 2015 FINA World Championships team and that he will forfeit his funding from the national governing board for six months.

http://espn.go.com/olympics/swimmin...hael-phelps-suspended-six-months-usa-swimming

 

[Leros]

Does being suspended for six months matter? The next olympics isn't for a while. I assume he can still train?

 

[Fox5]

+1 for the "why didn't he call an Uber?" They'll drive you pretty much anywhere in the Maryland, DC, Virginia area.

 

[zanejohnson]

damnnnn DWI 2 MAN!!!

that's crazy! i wonder if he'll have to actually sit the mandatory jail sentence, it's like 30 days in my state, probably similar there?

 

[NoTine42]

Does being suspended for six months matter? The next olympics isn't for a while. I assume he can still train?

I thought he was done swimming. Properly training means no life, or did he realize he had no life anyway?

 

[Howard]

Well, I hope it was worth it for him.

 

[mammador]

And? He gotarrested....so beit....

Dont got why this is even newsworthy.....

 

[rockyct]

I thought he was done swimming. Properly training means no life, or did he realize he had no life anyway?

I think he was toying with the idea of swimming in Brazil.