Amish Teens Find Out Drunk Driving Includes Horse-Drawn Carriages
Driving under the influence of alcohol is a serious crime, on account of how drunk drivers can’t drive very well and end up causing accidents. Cars are hurdling death machines and should be treated as such, by which I mean treated with caution. Of course, cars aren’t the only type of vehicle allowed on the road, and DUI’s are certainly applicable to people who are driving anything with wheels. If there was a road-friendly vehicle that didn’t have wheels, drivers of these non-existent machines would also get in trouble for driving drunk. It’s a matter of safety.
DUI’s — if it drives, the law applies.
Cut to Indiana County, Pennsylvania: on July 8 at around eleven o’ clock at night, five young Amish men were meandering down the road in a horse-drawn buggy. They were all under two things — the influence of alcohol and the legal drinking age.
Perhaps if two of the boys hadn’t been riding on top of the buggy, a pretty suspicious thing to do, Punxsutawney police officers passing by wouldn’t have pulled them over. But there they were, and it happened. The boys were caught, and the driver, Robert Miller, turned out to be eighteen years old. His passengers were as old as twenty and as young as sixteen. Not only were they all drunk, they were drinking.
If you didn’t know that you could get a DUI from driving a buggy, now you do. Miller was promptly arrested for this crime and his four amigos were issued citations for their “Purchase, Consumption, Possession, or Transportation of Liquor or Malt or Brewed Beverages.” It’s not clear whether or not the horse was drinking, but we can probably assume it was sober.
Underage Drinking
In the state of Tennessee, it’s illegal to drink alcohol if you’re under the age of twenty-one. Same goes for underage possession, underage purchase… you get the idea. This isn’t Europe. There aren’t exceptions.
Okay, there are a couple of exceptions. If a minor is between the ages of eighteen and twenty-one, only then are they even really allowed to do anything with it, and this is limited to job-related stuff. For example, someone in that age range could sell alcohol if they worked at a restaurant. Minors can also drink or possess alcohol if it’s given to them by a religious official for a religious ceremony. Jesus’s intoxicating blood is legal for all ages, etc.
Underage drinkers get off way easier than grown-ups facing DUI charges or furnishing alcohol to minors, as should be expected. First-time underage offenders are looking at a Class A misdemeanor and might get their license suspended. Still, criminal records are bad and no teen wants to be a ride-bumming dork.
At Turner Law Offices, P.C., our team of attorneys has years of experience working with clients across a wide range of alcohol-related cases — including, of course, underage drinking violations. Whether this is your first time or your fifth time, your best bet at a lenient sentencing is to seek trustworthy legal representation as soon as possible. Call today or go online to set up your free initial consultation, and meet with a skilled lawyer who’s ready and waiting to guid you toward the justice you deserve.
