About two weeks ago I wrote a post titled Fasten Your Seat Belts... announcing that Ric had bought a car and after a hiatus of some 13 years he was going to be driving again. Why 13 years of no driving? Well, as you can read about here, he was charged with his 3rd DUI just before the founding of this blog.
Un-fuckin'-real as it may sound, Ric, in just two weeks after buying his car, has been charged AGAIN with another DUI!!!
It was just this past Friday as he was driving north on Interstate 75 through some little redneck town in Georgia since he was traveling to visit with his nephew at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. According to Ric, the cops stopped him because, and Ric admits fault in this, he was doing 85 MPH in a 70 MPH zone. Understandably Ric was super nervous and the cops noticed this. They assumed he was on something and made him do a roadside sobriety test. Then he was cuffed and put in the cruiser.
But Ric's story gets a little muddy from here. He said that they wanted to take him to a hospital to do a drug blood test and Ric says the cops were suggesting to him that if he refused to take the test he could be set free and be on his way after a night in jail and a quick arraignment. Ric said the cops were saying the blood test could take several weeks to complete and this might delay his release? (Sounds fucked up to me) Ric apparently refused the test and requested a breathalyzer to which the cops said no because they were under the belief he wasn't under the influence of alcohol but drugs.
So he was brought to the jail and spent the night there. He got a bail bondsman to post bond for him. When I asked him what collateral he used since the bond was for something like $2,400 he said the bondsman put up his own collateral. (Huh? I'm pretty sure the only reason he got a bond in a state outside of his residence is he must have signed his condo as collateral. Why he's not admitting this is either due to ignorance that he did it or embarrassment.)
He was released the next morning but did this experience deter him from continuing on his journey to Knoxville to play 54-year-old frat boy with his under 21-year-old nephew? Nope. He posted selfies of himself with his nephew at Knoxville sports bars smiling as if nothing ever happened.
After his weekend in Knoxville, according to him, he spent the last couple of business days in Atlanta in order to iron out the issues by hiring a lawyer and conducting his own, self-paid drug tests. This was likely good advise from his lawyer. As to why he didn't do it the night of his arrest? Maybe the cops deceived him or maybe he was afraid of what the tests would reveal since he admitted that a couple days before he left for Knoxville, he and his friend Joe smoked some pot. He said he only had two light hits. Hmm. How the plot thickens.
So what's Ric looking at? Well, in Georgia, he's charged with a first offence misdemeanor DUI under the influence of drugs. But once this is communicated back to Florida, it will be tacked on to his existing record and count as his 4th DUI charge. Since he refused the blood test, he's looking right there, no matter what, at a one year suspension of his driver's licence.
If he beats the rap and the case is either dismissed or he's found Not Guilty, he should be free of further penalties, but the one year suspension, at least in Florida may stand since he refused the test. I'm not entirely sure but I think that's the case. And this will, IMHO, be the outcome. Without a positive test for drugs in his system (assuming the ones he did come up clean) there's no evidence.
But we're talking backwoods Georgia. Good Ole Boys, Dukes of Hazzard country. What if they come up with "evidence?" Or what if the judge doesn't need evidence to convict? "Roscoe says you was high as a kite, Boy, and you're gonna hang!" "What's more, I detect a bit of homosexuality in you, Boy!" Clap Clap of his gavel. "Full penalties to you, you Sodomite!"
Yikes! Let's hope it doesn't come out as that. But either way, without his licence he'd have a very hard time being able to get to and from his new job promised to him. It's down in the I-Drive area. And though he was talking to me how he might be able to get there by public transport and his bike, it isn't likely feasible.
Sadly, though I had a bad feeling about his prospects even before these new developments...quitting his job, and hanging his hopes on a career in a field he knows nothing about...I now feel he's never gonna be able to ride this one out. It'll be a full blown Koyo for him, for sure.
I hate to say it, but my oh my, how the tables have turned.
Un-fuckin'-real as it may sound, Ric, in just two weeks after buying his car, has been charged AGAIN with another DUI!!!
It was just this past Friday as he was driving north on Interstate 75 through some little redneck town in Georgia since he was traveling to visit with his nephew at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. According to Ric, the cops stopped him because, and Ric admits fault in this, he was doing 85 MPH in a 70 MPH zone. Understandably Ric was super nervous and the cops noticed this. They assumed he was on something and made him do a roadside sobriety test. Then he was cuffed and put in the cruiser.
But Ric's story gets a little muddy from here. He said that they wanted to take him to a hospital to do a drug blood test and Ric says the cops were suggesting to him that if he refused to take the test he could be set free and be on his way after a night in jail and a quick arraignment. Ric said the cops were saying the blood test could take several weeks to complete and this might delay his release? (Sounds fucked up to me) Ric apparently refused the test and requested a breathalyzer to which the cops said no because they were under the belief he wasn't under the influence of alcohol but drugs.
So he was brought to the jail and spent the night there. He got a bail bondsman to post bond for him. When I asked him what collateral he used since the bond was for something like $2,400 he said the bondsman put up his own collateral. (Huh? I'm pretty sure the only reason he got a bond in a state outside of his residence is he must have signed his condo as collateral. Why he's not admitting this is either due to ignorance that he did it or embarrassment.)
He was released the next morning but did this experience deter him from continuing on his journey to Knoxville to play 54-year-old frat boy with his under 21-year-old nephew? Nope. He posted selfies of himself with his nephew at Knoxville sports bars smiling as if nothing ever happened.
After his weekend in Knoxville, according to him, he spent the last couple of business days in Atlanta in order to iron out the issues by hiring a lawyer and conducting his own, self-paid drug tests. This was likely good advise from his lawyer. As to why he didn't do it the night of his arrest? Maybe the cops deceived him or maybe he was afraid of what the tests would reveal since he admitted that a couple days before he left for Knoxville, he and his friend Joe smoked some pot. He said he only had two light hits. Hmm. How the plot thickens.
So what's Ric looking at? Well, in Georgia, he's charged with a first offence misdemeanor DUI under the influence of drugs. But once this is communicated back to Florida, it will be tacked on to his existing record and count as his 4th DUI charge. Since he refused the blood test, he's looking right there, no matter what, at a one year suspension of his driver's licence.
If he beats the rap and the case is either dismissed or he's found Not Guilty, he should be free of further penalties, but the one year suspension, at least in Florida may stand since he refused the test. I'm not entirely sure but I think that's the case. And this will, IMHO, be the outcome. Without a positive test for drugs in his system (assuming the ones he did come up clean) there's no evidence.
But we're talking backwoods Georgia. Good Ole Boys, Dukes of Hazzard country. What if they come up with "evidence?" Or what if the judge doesn't need evidence to convict? "Roscoe says you was high as a kite, Boy, and you're gonna hang!" "What's more, I detect a bit of homosexuality in you, Boy!" Clap Clap of his gavel. "Full penalties to you, you Sodomite!"
Yikes! Let's hope it doesn't come out as that. But either way, without his licence he'd have a very hard time being able to get to and from his new job promised to him. It's down in the I-Drive area. And though he was talking to me how he might be able to get there by public transport and his bike, it isn't likely feasible.
Sadly, though I had a bad feeling about his prospects even before these new developments...quitting his job, and hanging his hopes on a career in a field he knows nothing about...I now feel he's never gonna be able to ride this one out. It'll be a full blown Koyo for him, for sure.
I hate to say it, but my oh my, how the tables have turned.