Friday evening I stayed at work until about 6:30 and then headed over to a bowling alley where my wife had a small event going on.
I debated even going to this event. I didn't really know anybody there and the only thing that pushed me was a chance to bowl. I hadn't bowled in over 3 years. But even that was questionable as it was leagues night and I had no idea when they would be done. It wasn't that far from work, and it was a Friday, so I figured I'd just head over and play it by ear. If I can't bowl by around 8pm I'd split home, take the dog for a walk and probably hang with the neighbors.
I had thrown my ball and shoes bag in the car that morning so I showed up, ready to bowl around 7 and had a Labatt Blue while sitting with a bunch of strangers in a meeting that I didn't really have anything in common with hoping the leagues might end early. Tick tock, a couple dozen people chatting away while I'm pretending to listen and my beer is running out. I noticed a lady who returned with a tall dark amber draft beer that looked delicious so I went and asked her what it was; "October Fest, they have it on special". Twist my arm, I'll wait awhile longer with one of those! At 8:30 I was about 1/2 way into an October Fest and the leagues all clear out, time to bowl!
I bowled two games by my self and frankly I wasn't bowling worth a crap. Everything was off, the ball came back dripping with oil, my spin was nonexistent, balance was all off... I couldn't land anything consistently. One of the people from the meeting that I kinda knew came over and had also brought their ball and wanted to bowl, so I ordered up a couple more games and another draft. I figured I'm not bowling great but hey, it's the whole reason I'm here so lets go! I got better once I got used to the oil and was throwing a fast (16mph+) ball with very little arc. We bowled a few games till about 10pm when the event finished up and most people left. My wife and a couple other people decided they wanted to bowl too. Everyone was drinking and whenever the drinks were getting low someone would offer to go get more. I had had 4 of the October Fests when I realized that they were too heavy and not agreeing with the bowling alley pizza I had, so I switched to Bud light. I had 2 of those while we bowled 3 more games.
For me it was 8 games total and I was getting tired. That and it was now close to 1am and the alley was closing up. At about a beer an hour I didn't feel drunk or impaired, just tired, so driving wasn't really a concern. About 1/2 way home on the expressway my fuzzbuster lit up with instant on radar, I immediately looked at my speed and was right at about 80mph so I let off the gas. Everyone else was doing 80+ so I didn't think much of it, but I was in the slow lane and way behind me I saw some headlights pull out on the expressway. It took a good mile before they caught up to me, they weren't racing to catch me it seemed, but then the lights came on...
Stopped for speeding, but that didn't matter
Police behind me with lights a flashing I slowed down, put on my turn signal and looked for a safe place to pull over. A young officer walked up to my car asked for my license and proof of insurance and then said "do you know why I pulled you over?". Asking me to testify against my self, I simply said "I was doing about 80?". He said they clocked me at 81mph, then asked if I had been drinking anything tonight. Here's where I made a terrible mistake, I said that I had a beer at the bowling alley. For some reason I was thinking that honesty might get me some points as I knew he could probably smell beer on me.
No points, I had just handed him 'probable cause'! He had me step out of the car, searched me and explained that he's going to do a field sobriety test. It was warm out, the only sounds were light traffic on the expressway and it was fairly bright because we had stopped near an exit with street lights. He first had me stand on one leg and put my arms out for awhile, which I did without any trouble. Switch to the other leg with arms to the side, I didn't even wobble, pretended to be a statue. Then he had me stand normally with arms to the side and told me to keep my head perfectly still while following his pen light with my eyes. This went on for at least a minute but seemed like five. He kept stopping, then move a little, left right, up down, stop for a long time. It took so long that I felt like looking at him to ask how long this was going to take, but I never took my eyes off the light even for a second.
Feeling a tiny bit confident that I might actually pass this test he went on to explain how to walk in a strait line step by step, one in front of the other, heel toe and he demonstrate how to do it. He kept going on with instructions, and demonstrating, said to walk 9 steps, then walk back. I thought I had listened to every word and had it down, but after my 9 steps I reversed and he instantly said that I didn't follow the instructions and stopped the test. Guided me to the back of the cop car and had me sit. Then he pulled a portable breathalyser out of the trunk and asked if I would consent to blow. At this point I knew I was screwed. These cops didn't care how coherent I was nor how polite and complaint with this whole thing, they wanted a number and more importantly they wanted a DUI.
I blew a .10. I knew it was over the legal limit but just to confirm I asked if .08 was still the limit. Yep. They didn't mess around calling out a flat bed tow truck to pick up my car. They then put on hand cuffs while I was still in the back of the car, quite uncomfortable. After that I voiced my disbelief in their humanity that they would wreck my life over this, as if I was going to make them feel bad or something. They were almost giddy, both cops were quite young and who knows I might have been their first DUI. The initial speeding charge was never mentioned again, but they did ask how much money I had on me, which I thought was a little odd. I told them I only had about $4 as I had spent cash at the bowling alley. Then we were off to the police station.
No points, I had just handed him 'probable cause'! He had me step out of the car, searched me and explained that he's going to do a field sobriety test. It was warm out, the only sounds were light traffic on the expressway and it was fairly bright because we had stopped near an exit with street lights. He first had me stand on one leg and put my arms out for awhile, which I did without any trouble. Switch to the other leg with arms to the side, I didn't even wobble, pretended to be a statue. Then he had me stand normally with arms to the side and told me to keep my head perfectly still while following his pen light with my eyes. This went on for at least a minute but seemed like five. He kept stopping, then move a little, left right, up down, stop for a long time. It took so long that I felt like looking at him to ask how long this was going to take, but I never took my eyes off the light even for a second.
Feeling a tiny bit confident that I might actually pass this test he went on to explain how to walk in a strait line step by step, one in front of the other, heel toe and he demonstrate how to do it. He kept going on with instructions, and demonstrating, said to walk 9 steps, then walk back. I thought I had listened to every word and had it down, but after my 9 steps I reversed and he instantly said that I didn't follow the instructions and stopped the test. Guided me to the back of the cop car and had me sit. Then he pulled a portable breathalyser out of the trunk and asked if I would consent to blow. At this point I knew I was screwed. These cops didn't care how coherent I was nor how polite and complaint with this whole thing, they wanted a number and more importantly they wanted a DUI.
I blew a .10. I knew it was over the legal limit but just to confirm I asked if .08 was still the limit. Yep. They didn't mess around calling out a flat bed tow truck to pick up my car. They then put on hand cuffs while I was still in the back of the car, quite uncomfortable. After that I voiced my disbelief in their humanity that they would wreck my life over this, as if I was going to make them feel bad or something. They were almost giddy, both cops were quite young and who knows I might have been their first DUI. The initial speeding charge was never mentioned again, but they did ask how much money I had on me, which I thought was a little odd. I told them I only had about $4 as I had spent cash at the bowling alley. Then we were off to the police station.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)