Manhattan Beach DUI with Crash, 0.16% BAC, Walks Away

Our client, age 48, was driving southbound on Sepulveda Boulevard through Manhattan Beach at about 9:30 p.m.  He had been out with colleagues from work, other engineers, and had a few drinks.

Our client was in the right-most lane alongside the sidewalk and passing Skecher’s and approaching the intersection of Sepulveda and Longfellow Avenue when he saw that the lane was blocked by construction equipment.  There was even a concrete barrier in front of our client in his lane, with a large, heavy orange “Merge Left, Lane Closed” sign facing him.  The sign was attached to a sturdy metal backing and weighed several hundred pounds. 

Our client only saw the orange sign when it was too late and he smashed into the sign as he slammed on his brakes, stopping just inches before hitting the concrete barrier nearby.  The sign was no match for a moving car weighing well over 1,000 pounds and it broke apart and fell onto the sidewalk and into the traffic lanes, breaking into smaller pieces as well.

After a minute or two of just observing what had happened, our client then got out of his car and, knowing he was drunk, decided to leave the scene on foot.  He could not drive his car away.

Other motorists nearby who had stopped after the crash reported to police that our client pretended to “go jogging” and headed down Longfellow toward the ocean.  The motorists reported that our client was speeding at least 100 miles per hour prior to the crash as well.

In the next few minutes, police arrived at the accident scene and asked where the driver was.  Witnesses said he ran from the scene.  Police, however, found our client’s work ID in the car and so they immediately knew who they were looking for.

About twenty minutes later, police found our client “jogging in office attire” on 30th Street in Hermosa Beach, west of Sepulveda and transported him back to the accident scene to show him to two witnesses there who saw him leave the scene.  The two witnesses told police “yes,” when asked if he was the driver of the car that crashed.

Our client was then arrested and taken to the Manhattan Beach Police Station where he agreed to submit to a blood test.  He then submitted to a blood test, but it was not administered until more than three hours had passed since he last drove.

The client was then kept at the station for a few hours into the following day and released.

The client then called Greg Hill & Associates and described what had happened to him.  This was the client’s second DUI, his first being from 1993 when he was twenty years old.  The client told Greg that he did not feel impaired when he was driving home and believed he turned his steering wheel before hitting the sign.  He suspected that he car, a newer sportscar manufactured by Volkswagen, malfunctioned. 

 

The client retained Greg Hill & Associates and Greg proceeded to get the police report and saw the client’s blood alcohol content was measured at 0.16%.

Greg managed to “win” at the DMV Hearing for the client based on the blood test being more than three hours after the client last drove.

However, in court, this was not such a strong defense, as the prosecution would certainly call a blood alcohol expert to testify that the client’s BAC was over 0.08% when he last drove.  Such an expert might even testify that, if our client’s rate of ethanol absorption was the same as the average person, his BAC when he last drove was probably close to 0.22%.

Greg was able to resolve the case in the Torrance Courthouse with the District Attorney’s office, as this case was regarded as occurring in Manhattan Beach. 

The final terms of the plea bargain were that our client was placed on three years of informal or summary probation with no jail, but with an obligation to enroll in and attend the three-month alcohol awareness program (called the AB 541 program), pay a court fine of $450 plus penalties and assessments (with credit for two days actual time in custody, plus two days good time – work time credit, making the total owed just $304), and attend the Mothers Against Drunk Driving Victim Impact Panel and the Hospital and Morgue (HAM) program.

The client was not happy with having to attend the HAM program or the Mothers Against Drunk Driving program, but in light of only having to do the minimum alcohol awareness program (AB 541) and only having a $304 fine, this was relatively light punishment for a rather serious DUI.

For more information about the issues in this DUI case, please click on the following articles: