Question: I think my girlfriend got me arrested for DUI because she was acting dumb.
I got drunk in Alpharetta with my girlfriend and now I need an Alpharetta DUI lawyer for some help. I was at that new development called “Avalon” and I just drank too much. At Avalon I was walking around drinking beers and some gin and tonics and that’s totally legal. But I went to meet a friend and I got into my car and I drove out of Avalon and onto Old Milton Parkway and I got pulled over pretty much immediately by a cop from Alpharetta.
I didn’t want to lie so I told the cop I’d been drinking but I didn’t exactly say how much I had to drink. But I could tell he knew I had several because he looked at me like I was drunk or something. He asked me if I was on any drugs or meds and I said no, but I did take some cough medicine for this dry cough or flu I’ve had for a few days.
I think the cop was going to let me go when my girlfriend, in the passenger seat, started saying stupid things to the cop. She called him a couple of nasty names which I won’t repeat and then she got out of the car. She started cursing out the cop and all of a sudden vomited. I couldn’t believe she acted like that. She’s in medical school and should know better.
But I could tell the Alpharetta policeman was offended and he told me to get out of the car. When I got out he arrested me for DUI. My girlfriend was just lying there, puking every now and then. He called her an ambulance because he thought she had alcohol poising or something.
I really think because my girlfriend was so drunk and dumb that the cop got pissed-off and arrested me for DUI and made me spend the night in the Alpharetta jail when I thought he might just let me go. Can you use any of this information to help me with the DUI charge?
D.B. in Woodstock, GA
Answer: We have handled many cases where a passenger has made matters worse for a driver who has been stopped by a police officer. On these occasions, the passengers have either said or done things that have attracted the unwelcome attention of law enforcement.
We have had clients whose passengers insulted the cop involved in many ways. Some have questioned the officer’s intelligence, character, sanity, and even sexual preference; we have seen passengers insult a police officer’s mother. Obviously, this never helps the driver get out of trouble. Indeed, it can cause a cop to view the driver in a very negative light and maybe help instigate an arrest.
When someone is a passenger and the car they are in is stopped by the police, they should not say or do anything that could be construed by anyone in a negative light. It’s really best for a passenger to say and do nothing; they should just sit there quietly.