Man busted while drunk driving in wheelchair

[fnord]

BERLIN (Reuters) - A wheelchair-bound German stunned police when they pulled him over for using the road and found he was 10 times over the legal alcohol limit for drivers.

"He was right in the middle of the road," said a spokesman for police in the northeastern city of Schwerin Tuesday. "The officers couldn't quite believe it when they saw the results of the breath test. That's a life-threatening figure."

The 31-year-old told police he had been out drinking with a friend and was a little over a mile from home when a squad car stopped him as he passed through the village of Ventschow.

Police said that because the man was technically traveling as a pedestrian, he could not be charged with a driving offence.

"It's not like we can impound his wheelchair," the spokesman said. "But he is facing some sort of punishment. It's just not clear yet what exactly that will be."



its not like we can impound his wheelchair,"

hmm sounds like they were thinking about it.

http://www.reuters.com/article/oddly...2?feedType=RSS

[wellhelm]

WTF is legal limit in germany? If its .08 he was at a .8? No fucking way. Is that possible?

[old hippie 56]

Hell, they arrested George Jones for DWI on his riding lawn mower. But that was in Tennessee.

[Bajeda]

Originally Posted by wellhelm

WTF is legal limit in germany? If its .08 he was at a .8? No fucking way. Is that possible?

The legal limit is 0.05, so the guy was at 0.5, which is still nuts!!

See below article.


http://www.spiegel.de/international/...484431,00.html

[top]German in Wheelchair Busted For Drunk Driving

A wheelchair-bound man was spotted by police driving down the middle of the road in a village in eastern Germany. When they breathalysed him they were shocked to find that he was ten times over the legal limit for drivers.

Whether it's a truck or a wheelchair, German police don't look too kindly on vehicles swerving down the middle of a road -- particularly if those operating them have had a few too many beers.

When a squad car patrolling the village of Ventschow, in northeastern Germany, spotted a wheelchair-bound man out on the open road late on Saturday night, the police officers suspected he might be under the influence. They were right. When he was given a breathalyzer test, they were stunned to find that he was a whopping ten times over the legal limit for drivers. He had a 0.5 percent blood alcohol content (BAC) -- the legal limit in Germany is 0.05 percent.

"He was right in the middle of the road," a spokesman for the police told Reuters Tuesday. "The officers couldn't believe it when they saw the results of the breath test. That's a life- threatening figure."

The 31-year-old had been out partying with a pal, he confessed when pulled over. In fact he was just a mile from home when he was rumbled.

The concerned coppers tried to get the inebriated man to hospital in an ambulance, but he was not going quietly. After he resisted and put up a fight, they were forced to give him a police escort.

Now the authorities are faced with the tricky task of how to penalize this kind of behavior. Technically the man was traveling as a pedestrian, and so cannot be charged with a driving offence.

"It's not like we can impound his wheelchair," the police spokesman said. "But he is facing some sort of punishment. It's just not clear yet what that will be."

[wellhelm]

I seriously find it hard to believe he was even concious, let alone "resisted". I have heard anything over .3 can be fatal and .4 is often death. If I'm at .25ish or .28ish I am waking up in jail or a very forgien backyard with no idea how I got there but probably a hospital(happened once when swim was a kid). He is the superman to my "light weight".

[Bajeda]

They found a Finnish guy driving with a .67 once I believe. Its one of the highest recorded BAC's ever, with the person living of course. How he was driving? Who knows. You need to have one HELL of a tolerance to get away with that without dying. To be conscious is one heck of an achievement, however useless it is.