Drunk Driving Cases
Attorney William C. Head

Case 30
State v. D.W.
City Court of Atlanta

D.W. was a former New York resident with a long history of psychiatric problems. He and a neighbor were at the neighbors condo working on a computer software problem all day before stopping for pizza and a few beers late in the evening.

D.W. was taking prescribed medication for his "manic-depressive" (bipolar) condition. After he and the friend finished work, he was supposed to go upstairs to his condo. Although he only had a beer and a half, he had taken his medications that were prescribed for bipolar disorder. These medications were Halcion, Lithium, and Paxil.

Instead of going to bed, he decided to go to his girlfriend's condo. He took her Toyota Camry which was at his condo location. When he got to her gate, he found that she was not home from work yet. He tried to "key in" her access code, but the gate would not open. In a haze and totally frustrated, he backed up the Camry and rammed the metal and brick gate. The front end of the Camry became wedged in the massive steel gate. He tried to dislodge it by putting the car in reverse and drive--dragging the heavy gate back and forth. Needless to say, the entire condo complex was soon awake (prior to D.W. freeing his car).

He backed out and sped away from the scene, leaving most of Toyota's bumper and front end parts behind. Both headlights were broken and not working.

As he came to a red light at the 400 loop, he ignored the red signal and turned left toward Peachtree Street. A police car that had been dispatched to the "gate dragging" location nearly broadsided his damaged Toyota vehicle as D.W. ran through the red light.

The police car got behind the Toyota just as D.W. swerved wide and ran up on to the curb of the 400 looop. D.W. pulled into the parking lot of the Ritz-Carlton/Buckhead in response to the officer's blue lights.

D.W. stepped out of the Toyota, holding on to the top of the driver's door and the top of the vehicle. When he did, his pants fell to the ground. No field tests were possible. D.W. refused to take ANY breath tests for the two officers.

At trial, the officer testified that there was a 1/2 beer open and sitting in the center console of D.W.'s vehicle. He testified that he could smell the odor of alcohol on D.W.'s breath. He also testified, on cross-examination by Mr. Head, that he had NEVER seen anyone so "wasted" in his life. Further cross-examination revealed that the officer had no training in "drug recognition" symptoms. The officer also said that he never asked D.W. if he had consumed any medications

The condo neighbor, D.W.'s girlfriend, and a medical doctor testified at the jury trial. Our sole defense to the "DUI-alcohol" charge was that he was not under the influence of ALCOHOL, because he had only consumed 1 1/2 beers at the most. We argued that he was impaired by PRESCRIPTION DRUGS and that he was not accused of "DUI-DRUGS."

The jury acquitted D.W. of the DUI offense.

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