OK, this will be long, but it's ALLLLLLL true.
DH went out Saturday night to meet up with a group of people in DC. There is a blogger in town who has a popular political blog and he was in for some political thing and invited his readers to meet up at a bar in DC by the Mall. So, DH decided to drive in as metro is really slow late at night. He left here around 8:15 pm and got there right at 9 pm. There were about 20 people there and it was just a quiet gathering of like-minded folks at a hotel bar/restaurant. DH ordered a regular martini at 9:15 and sipped on that until 10 pm. He left the bar/restaurant at 12:45 am at which time he called me to tell me he was walking to his car.
Thank GOODNESS I didn't get that message immediately. I must have been somewhere in the house I couldn't hear the phone (probably cleaning the litterbox! LOL), so I didn't get his message until 2 am when I decided to call his cell to see where he was (He said he would call me when he left.). I then heard that there was a voicemail and I listened to it. I didn't stop to listen to the time it was recorded and erased the message.
OK, DH is on his way home. I'll get ready for bed. I get ready and I'm waiting to hear him... nothing... 3 am passes. Now I'm getting really worried. With no traffic, the drive should take about 35 minutes, but maybe there's traffic. Maybe there's construction we didn't know about (they tend to do a lot of construction late at night). 3:30 am passes. I call his cell phone - nothing. 3:58 am the phone rings and it's DH. His exact words were, "I've been arrested and I've been detained." I asked if he was OK. He said yes, and I asked what happened and he said he would tell me when he gets home.
Part of me is relieved, part of me is upset. DH does NOT drink and drive, so what happened? Did he have more than he thought? Are laws in DC really strict? I get online and DC does have zero tolerance. They can give you an OWI with below a .07 Blood Alcohol Concentration if driving is impaired and you fail a field sobriety test. So, I wonder, did he get pulled over and have SOME alcohol in his system? Perhaps.
But... now, he's still not home. I finally fall asleep sometime after 5:15 am. I wake up with my toddler at 6:15 am - and still no DH. At 7 am I call the police dept and I ONLY have that number because of caller ID. They give me another number and after calling that I learn that DH is STILL being held and to call after 7:30 am. I call at 7:45 am and she asks if I want to pick DH up. I get upset and say, "I don't know where my DH is, what he has done or anything. Can I please speak to him?" The answer is no. They go to DH ask if he wants me to pick him up and a few seconds later the lady comes back on the line and says, "Is there something wrong with your husband lady? He's acting weird. He's saying we should be worried. Well, you two work it out." CLICK.
Now, that's my side.... here's DH's happenings.
he gets to his car at 12:45 am and starts driving trying to find 395. At 12:55 am he gets pulled over because he made a left turn when the street sign said no left turn (probably for traffic congestion reasons). DH gets a ticket. The officer asks him if he has had anything to drink and DH said he had one drink from 9:15 to 10 pm and nothing since. The police officer asks him to get out of the car. Now, DH has on just a THIN windbreaker jacket and under that a thin cotton long sleeved shirt. By now it is below freezing outside. Of course DH is nervous and COLD! The officer does the field sobriety test - point finger to a pen, walk a straight line, hold leg up and stand on one leg until the police officer says to stop and does the flashlight eye movement test. It appears that DH's eyes jumped a bit while taking that test (which doesn't surprise me as DH does have eyes that get jumpy when he's nervous or upset). So, the Police officer says DH is intoxicated and had to have had more than one drink. DH insists thsi is not true. The police officer says the eye test proves it... This is not true! It does make it suspicious, but not proof. And DH knows that, so far... no problem.
Then the officer says, "You are not driving any more tonight. You have three choices. You can call someone and have them pick you up and have your car towed. Call someone to tow your car home with you sitting in the tow truck or come in to take a breathalizer test." Dh, knowing he cannot be drunk chooses the breathalizer test. The officer tells him then that he's under arrest and handcuffs him and places him in the car. DHs car will be impounded. (now... what we don't know... would he have been given an OWI without a breathalizer? Or was the police officer going to let him off? Why the choices? Doesn't it seem like a trap?)
So, DH gets to the police station and there he is searched (again - oh and his car was searched on the street too). The take his wallet, phone, watch and remove his shoelaces and the string from his jacket. They give him a breathlizer test and it registered 0.00. Then gave him the test again 10-15 minutes later and again it registers 0.00. They put him in a cell to do paperwork and finally at close to 4 am (he only knows this when he is being brought to see a clock) they tell him that their finger printing machine isn't working and so they need to drive him to another police dept. to do that. DH is LIGHTLY protesting being finger printed because WHY is he being held with a 0.00 blood acohol reading? They said it was procedure. They also gave him a paper being charged with OWI and a court date of 12/4 and dh has to sign it. He sees the date and realizes it's when he will be out of the country and says he doesn't want to sign a paper promising to show up in court on a date he knows he's not even in the country. They make him sign it or he won't be released. it was then that he asked if he could call his wife so that I wouldn't worry.
So, now he expects he'll be released after then take his fingerprints. Nope. The take those and mugshots and put him in a cell and say it will take 20 minutes. 3.5 hours later they go to release him and that's about when I called. When they asked him if he wanted his wife to pick him up. he said, "I want to be sure she's rested enough to drive. I'm sure she didn't sleep much at all." And the police officer said, "What are you afraid of your wife now?" and he said, "no, but you all should be afraid of how this has been handled. I've been detained all night for having a 0.00 BAC for no reason." . They allow him to call me at the door (since we never got to make arrangements when I called) and then once he made arrangements, they literally said, "Go." He asked, "where are my things - my wallet, my phone, etc" And they said at the other police station. Dh asked where that was and they said simply, "near the Jefferson memorial". DH had to wait an hour at freezing temperatures in a thin coat for me to arrive. Now HOW can they do that??? He can't call a cab or me or ANYONE. he can't even really walk well because his shoes have no laces? And then not to even give him a piece of paper with the address???
I get there and we try to find the other police station which we finally found after asking a couple of police officers on the street. He gets his personal effects, but his copy of the breathilizer test is not there and it SHOULD be. Needless to say, it's been over 48 hours since this happened and he still doesn't have this copy despite driving to get it, calling about it and so on and they all say, "yes you should have gotten it." We did get it verified though that it's in the police report that it says o.oo, but he can't get a copy of the police report for his arrest until 6-10 business days after the arrest. Which leaves less than 2 weeks to prepare for his court date which he HAS to switch around.
We got the car yesterday and it cost $170 CASH to pick up from a third party.
Now... can anyone tell me WHY he was arrested? Why when he got the 0.00 on the test and etc why this proceeded? He was held from 12:55 am to 7:45 am for making a wrong left turn which, incidentally is a $25 fine (less than a parking ticket it's so minor an offense). Since we don't have the police report yet we can't know what all was said, but he didn't fail all the sobriety tests, just the eye jerking test and he was cleared of being drunk with the 0.00 reading. (which is the expected result, btw)
That this can happen and it will cost us over $200 and was a very stressful night for BOTH of us, plus we lost a complete day to this and that's with believing that the charges will be dropped. I mean, HOW can they prosecute this?!?!?! If it's isn't dropped. Then he has to go to court and if he loses (HOW???) then it's MORE punishment, for not being drunk... I don't get it.
And, not that it matters, but DH is a PhD. grad from a top school and is NO DUMMY. He didn't get irrate or cause problems... so WHY!???? This is America - innocent until proven guilty right? Then how come he was guilty even when proven innocent?
Please someone comment on this who is more in the know!
DH went out Saturday night to meet up with a group of people in DC. There is a blogger in town who has a popular political blog and he was in for some political thing and invited his readers to meet up at a bar in DC by the Mall. So, DH decided to drive in as metro is really slow late at night. He left here around 8:15 pm and got there right at 9 pm. There were about 20 people there and it was just a quiet gathering of like-minded folks at a hotel bar/restaurant. DH ordered a regular martini at 9:15 and sipped on that until 10 pm. He left the bar/restaurant at 12:45 am at which time he called me to tell me he was walking to his car.
Thank GOODNESS I didn't get that message immediately. I must have been somewhere in the house I couldn't hear the phone (probably cleaning the litterbox! LOL), so I didn't get his message until 2 am when I decided to call his cell to see where he was (He said he would call me when he left.). I then heard that there was a voicemail and I listened to it. I didn't stop to listen to the time it was recorded and erased the message.
OK, DH is on his way home. I'll get ready for bed. I get ready and I'm waiting to hear him... nothing... 3 am passes. Now I'm getting really worried. With no traffic, the drive should take about 35 minutes, but maybe there's traffic. Maybe there's construction we didn't know about (they tend to do a lot of construction late at night). 3:30 am passes. I call his cell phone - nothing. 3:58 am the phone rings and it's DH. His exact words were, "I've been arrested and I've been detained." I asked if he was OK. He said yes, and I asked what happened and he said he would tell me when he gets home.
Part of me is relieved, part of me is upset. DH does NOT drink and drive, so what happened? Did he have more than he thought? Are laws in DC really strict? I get online and DC does have zero tolerance. They can give you an OWI with below a .07 Blood Alcohol Concentration if driving is impaired and you fail a field sobriety test. So, I wonder, did he get pulled over and have SOME alcohol in his system? Perhaps.
But... now, he's still not home. I finally fall asleep sometime after 5:15 am. I wake up with my toddler at 6:15 am - and still no DH. At 7 am I call the police dept and I ONLY have that number because of caller ID. They give me another number and after calling that I learn that DH is STILL being held and to call after 7:30 am. I call at 7:45 am and she asks if I want to pick DH up. I get upset and say, "I don't know where my DH is, what he has done or anything. Can I please speak to him?" The answer is no. They go to DH ask if he wants me to pick him up and a few seconds later the lady comes back on the line and says, "Is there something wrong with your husband lady? He's acting weird. He's saying we should be worried. Well, you two work it out." CLICK.
Now, that's my side.... here's DH's happenings.
he gets to his car at 12:45 am and starts driving trying to find 395. At 12:55 am he gets pulled over because he made a left turn when the street sign said no left turn (probably for traffic congestion reasons). DH gets a ticket. The officer asks him if he has had anything to drink and DH said he had one drink from 9:15 to 10 pm and nothing since. The police officer asks him to get out of the car. Now, DH has on just a THIN windbreaker jacket and under that a thin cotton long sleeved shirt. By now it is below freezing outside. Of course DH is nervous and COLD! The officer does the field sobriety test - point finger to a pen, walk a straight line, hold leg up and stand on one leg until the police officer says to stop and does the flashlight eye movement test. It appears that DH's eyes jumped a bit while taking that test (which doesn't surprise me as DH does have eyes that get jumpy when he's nervous or upset). So, the Police officer says DH is intoxicated and had to have had more than one drink. DH insists thsi is not true. The police officer says the eye test proves it... This is not true! It does make it suspicious, but not proof. And DH knows that, so far... no problem.
Then the officer says, "You are not driving any more tonight. You have three choices. You can call someone and have them pick you up and have your car towed. Call someone to tow your car home with you sitting in the tow truck or come in to take a breathalizer test." Dh, knowing he cannot be drunk chooses the breathalizer test. The officer tells him then that he's under arrest and handcuffs him and places him in the car. DHs car will be impounded. (now... what we don't know... would he have been given an OWI without a breathalizer? Or was the police officer going to let him off? Why the choices? Doesn't it seem like a trap?)
So, DH gets to the police station and there he is searched (again - oh and his car was searched on the street too). The take his wallet, phone, watch and remove his shoelaces and the string from his jacket. They give him a breathlizer test and it registered 0.00. Then gave him the test again 10-15 minutes later and again it registers 0.00. They put him in a cell to do paperwork and finally at close to 4 am (he only knows this when he is being brought to see a clock) they tell him that their finger printing machine isn't working and so they need to drive him to another police dept. to do that. DH is LIGHTLY protesting being finger printed because WHY is he being held with a 0.00 blood acohol reading? They said it was procedure. They also gave him a paper being charged with OWI and a court date of 12/4 and dh has to sign it. He sees the date and realizes it's when he will be out of the country and says he doesn't want to sign a paper promising to show up in court on a date he knows he's not even in the country. They make him sign it or he won't be released. it was then that he asked if he could call his wife so that I wouldn't worry.
So, now he expects he'll be released after then take his fingerprints. Nope. The take those and mugshots and put him in a cell and say it will take 20 minutes. 3.5 hours later they go to release him and that's about when I called. When they asked him if he wanted his wife to pick him up. he said, "I want to be sure she's rested enough to drive. I'm sure she didn't sleep much at all." And the police officer said, "What are you afraid of your wife now?" and he said, "no, but you all should be afraid of how this has been handled. I've been detained all night for having a 0.00 BAC for no reason." . They allow him to call me at the door (since we never got to make arrangements when I called) and then once he made arrangements, they literally said, "Go." He asked, "where are my things - my wallet, my phone, etc" And they said at the other police station. Dh asked where that was and they said simply, "near the Jefferson memorial". DH had to wait an hour at freezing temperatures in a thin coat for me to arrive. Now HOW can they do that??? He can't call a cab or me or ANYONE. he can't even really walk well because his shoes have no laces? And then not to even give him a piece of paper with the address???
I get there and we try to find the other police station which we finally found after asking a couple of police officers on the street. He gets his personal effects, but his copy of the breathilizer test is not there and it SHOULD be. Needless to say, it's been over 48 hours since this happened and he still doesn't have this copy despite driving to get it, calling about it and so on and they all say, "yes you should have gotten it." We did get it verified though that it's in the police report that it says o.oo, but he can't get a copy of the police report for his arrest until 6-10 business days after the arrest. Which leaves less than 2 weeks to prepare for his court date which he HAS to switch around.
We got the car yesterday and it cost $170 CASH to pick up from a third party.
Now... can anyone tell me WHY he was arrested? Why when he got the 0.00 on the test and etc why this proceeded? He was held from 12:55 am to 7:45 am for making a wrong left turn which, incidentally is a $25 fine (less than a parking ticket it's so minor an offense). Since we don't have the police report yet we can't know what all was said, but he didn't fail all the sobriety tests, just the eye jerking test and he was cleared of being drunk with the 0.00 reading. (which is the expected result, btw)
That this can happen and it will cost us over $200 and was a very stressful night for BOTH of us, plus we lost a complete day to this and that's with believing that the charges will be dropped. I mean, HOW can they prosecute this?!?!?! If it's isn't dropped. Then he has to go to court and if he loses (HOW???) then it's MORE punishment, for not being drunk... I don't get it.
And, not that it matters, but DH is a PhD. grad from a top school and is NO DUMMY. He didn't get irrate or cause problems... so WHY!???? This is America - innocent until proven guilty right? Then how come he was guilty even when proven innocent?
Please someone comment on this who is more in the know!