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.
Showing posts with label jail. Show all posts
Showing posts with label jail. Show all posts
Incarceration
At the police station they pulled the car through a garage door - interlock system. Everything gets locked up behind you before they open another door, and there were several very heavy doors with large locks on each before we got to the in-processing station. Once there I sat on a metal bench, still handcuffed, while they entered my life into computers to make sure my life would be miserable for years to come. I was quiet and compliant to all of their questions. At one point I asked if the cuffs are just standard protocol as I was obviously not a threat, they said yes, as I figured. I could imagine if someone was much more drunk than me, or on something else, they could really freak out at this point. They did 2 more breathalyser tests on a much larger machine, both times I blew a consistent .10. The machine printed out a ticket with all my info, calibration records, times, BAC and the officer signed it as this was Evidence Ticket used to incarcerate me and finalize the misdemeanor charge of OWI.
The finger printing process is all digital, basically using a black and white fax scanner. It took a lot of scans, each finger, whole hand and even the pinky side of my hand at which I joked "is this one in case I karate chop something?", they laughed. They used a chart to calculate how long it would take for my BAC to be at a safe limit to be released on my own, which was about 2 and 1/2 hours. They then bagged up everything I had except for pants, shirt and socks and since I didn't have the $100 bond on me they gave me my cell phone so I could arrange for someone to pick me up and post the bond after the waiting period. Then we went through a couple more heavy doors, they handed me a thick cotton blanket and locked me in a holding cell. I was the only one in there and it was a very large room with wood laminate flooring, a stainless toilet and sink in one corner, 20 foot white walls, 4 windows embedded with metal mesh on the entry side, lit like a racquetball court and a single camera up in one corner. I just laid down, head swirling with all that had just happened.
About 4 hours later an officer opened up the door and led me out. I was a little groggy but still with it. Back in the in-processing station there was a young lady that they had brought in sitting on the bench and as soon as we walked in she flopped down on the floor and started crawling around wildly. The officer and I just walked around her but I noticed that she wasn't cuffed and wondered why nobody was restraining her. She was obviously out of her mind on something and who knows she could have crawled over and bit me or something. I got a bag of all my stuff, signed a release and went out to where my ride had been patiently waiting for over an hour and 1/2. We paid the bond of $100 but there was another $20 fee that needed to be paid at the police station in order to release my car, except it was too early and nobody was available to take that payment yet. So we went home, crashed a few hours and then drove back to the police station so we could pay the $20 fee so that we could go find the towing company and pay their $85 fee to actually get my car back.
Costs:
The finger printing process is all digital, basically using a black and white fax scanner. It took a lot of scans, each finger, whole hand and even the pinky side of my hand at which I joked "is this one in case I karate chop something?", they laughed. They used a chart to calculate how long it would take for my BAC to be at a safe limit to be released on my own, which was about 2 and 1/2 hours. They then bagged up everything I had except for pants, shirt and socks and since I didn't have the $100 bond on me they gave me my cell phone so I could arrange for someone to pick me up and post the bond after the waiting period. Then we went through a couple more heavy doors, they handed me a thick cotton blanket and locked me in a holding cell. I was the only one in there and it was a very large room with wood laminate flooring, a stainless toilet and sink in one corner, 20 foot white walls, 4 windows embedded with metal mesh on the entry side, lit like a racquetball court and a single camera up in one corner. I just laid down, head swirling with all that had just happened.
About 4 hours later an officer opened up the door and led me out. I was a little groggy but still with it. Back in the in-processing station there was a young lady that they had brought in sitting on the bench and as soon as we walked in she flopped down on the floor and started crawling around wildly. The officer and I just walked around her but I noticed that she wasn't cuffed and wondered why nobody was restraining her. She was obviously out of her mind on something and who knows she could have crawled over and bit me or something. I got a bag of all my stuff, signed a release and went out to where my ride had been patiently waiting for over an hour and 1/2. We paid the bond of $100 but there was another $20 fee that needed to be paid at the police station in order to release my car, except it was too early and nobody was available to take that payment yet. So we went home, crashed a few hours and then drove back to the police station so we could pay the $20 fee so that we could go find the towing company and pay their $85 fee to actually get my car back.
Costs:
| Bond | $100 |
| Vehical Release | $20 |
| Towing | $85 |
| Total | $205 |
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