Interviewer: Is there a particular person who gets arrested for DUI? Do you see more old people or young people; more women or men?
Brian: The typical person used to be a younger man caught drinking alcohol. Now, with changes in DUI laws and abuse of prescription medication, or the alleged abuse of prescription medication, you are really seeing people of all ages.
I represented a 90 year old guy with Alzheimer’s charged with aggravated DUI. I represented a 15 year old who was caught with alcohol. If you get charged with DUI, it is really a crapshoot now. You see all sorts of people, from all walks of life. They are old people, young people, old men, females, really anyone.
More recently, I am seeing people who traditionally would not drink alcohol at all, for religious reasons or whatever reason. They are the ones starting to get the DUIs now, whether it is alcohol or prescription medication; or even illegal drugs.
Interviewer: Who do you mean specifically?
Brian: More recently, I am seeing Muslims, Indians from India and people who refer to themselves as Persian. I did not see any of that, ever. Now you see quite a bit of that.
Interviewer: Are the people arrested close to the 0.08 per se limit; or do you get truly drunk drivers who have a high blood alcohol level?
Brian: 0.08 is the legal limit in Arizona. For the most part, if people are below 0.08, chances are a case is not going to be brought against them. There are rare occasions though. I just had one today where the guy was a 0.054, and they charged him with DUI. That was because there was an accident involved.
You would be surprised but women tend to have higher blood alcohol levels than men. I think the highest we have seen is about a 0.47. Really, the scientific journals say at a 0.5, you should be dead. At a 0.4, you should be in a coma.
Sometimes you get people who have such high blood alcohol content, but they are able to walk and talk. They really are not having a lot of issues. It is usually a sign they have been drinking for most of their lives, and they just became accustomed to it.
