Drinking in a parked car - illegal?

[Mr. Lennon]

You can't even pass out drunk in the drivers seat.

Yup, friend did that and awoke to a cop banging on the window. He ended up getting a DUI.

 

[shortylickens]

In most states, probably. If you have your keys, almost definitely. In many places if you walk out to the parking lot with your keys and have any in your blood you can be nailed. Iceland is like that, but they have a serious DUI problem up there. They can drag you from your car and forcibly extract blood, nothing you can do about it.

 

[shortylickens]

How does an old fusetalk thread get bumped in this day and age?

I think RBM with no brains.

 

[edro]

Tailgate parties must be covered by a special law or something.
Or maybe cops just turn a blind eye.
I have been to many tailgates in very cold weather, where it is normal to turn the car on and warm up inside.

 

[boomhower]

It's a no go in NC. Here though generally your car needs to be running for DWI, at the very least the key in the ignition. Just being in the car isn't enough. Intent to DWI, now that is going a bit far. I can't stand a drunk driver and they should all be charged, but intent to DWI? Dang.

 

[rudder]

Depends. On. The. State.

Here is Nashville the police chief's son was arrested for drunk driving. He was passed out in a parked car... but the keys were in the ignition. If he passed out in the back seat with they keys in his pocket he would probably had been ok... that and if his dad hadn't pissed off a lot of the police force.

 

[Nebor]

People frequently get DUIs for trying to sleep off their booze in their car. The big mistake they make is waking up, getting up and talking to the police knocking on their windows. As long as you're parked in a place you're allowed to be, just lay back down and go to sleep. They're not going to break your windows to see if you're drunk.

 

[Geocentricity]

...who the fuq pregames with beer?!

 

[FoBoT]

in many states/counties/cities and local jurisdictions, that would be illegal
some places it would be legal

 

[edro]

They're not going to break your windows to see if you're drunk.

I wouldn't want to test that.

The cop could easily break the window because he thought you were injured after not responding to shouting and banging on the window.

 

[Nebor]

I wouldn't want to test that.

The cop could easily break the window because he thought you were injured after not responding to shouting and banging on the window.

Well you're obviously going to wake up when they bang on your window. You sit up, give them a wave, and go back to sleep (or more likely, pretend to.)

They're not going to break your window, I promise. Even if they did, and you were drunk, and they arrested you, the case would be thrown out. They wouldn't be able to articulate probable cause to force their way into your car.

 

[911paramedic]

...who the fuq pregames with beer?!

...who the fuq posts in a 4 year old thread?

(I was reading it, hit the necro post and got pissed, lol)

 

[Saint Nick]

Myself and my old drummer were drinking in a parked car before a gig one night. Some ladies joined us and they were all under 21. One of them had a few, the others didn't really drink. A cop busted us and made everyone do a breathalyzer. Most of the ladies blew 00s, one blew a .03 or .04 or something. Myself, I blew a .01 and can't remember what my buddy blew.

I flat out lied to the cop when asked how many I had. "Only one, sir." But actually had three or four. I am a skinny guy and metabolize alcohol in a heartbeat. My drummer friend got a procurement charge which was eventually dropped to disturbing the peace. One girl got an MIP, the other two were charged with nothing.

I didn't get charged.

 

[thomsbrain]

In CA, you can get a DUI for merely sitting in the driver's seat of a car, period. A CHP officer told my traffic school class that if we need to sleep it off, to do it in the passenger seat so we don't get busted.

 

[Squisher]

In Michigan the keys only have to be in the possession of someone in the car and it's the same as a DUI. The standard operating procedure here is to throw your keys under the car and sleep it off. Hopefully, you brought a blanket.

 

[GundamW]

 

[Gibson486]

http://youtu.be/5jFpwmcJvd0

 

[bobdole369]

necro but whatever good info here.

In America's Wang - the test is whether you are "in control" of a vehicle. Having the keys in the vehicle and sleeping in the drivers seat constitutes "in control".

If you are drinking in a vehicle and the keys are in your pocket while tailgating - it would be a DUI if the vehicle could be started up and driven. If you've set out your picanick baskets and coolers and bbqs then its a different story. Good practice is to put the keys under the car.

If you restrict yourself while drunk at a bar to sleeping in the back with the seatbelt on, having thrown your keys into the field next to the bar - you can avoid a DUI here. The keys can be in a sober passengers pocket as well.

Most cops aren't total fucking dicks though. Once I was fighting with my wife and went and got a quart of beer (we have 32oz not 40's here....) and sat in my car dranking it while listening to the football game. Bike cop made me pour it out - i wasn't drunk had only about a half of it gone, told him what was up and he didn't give me even the open container ticket.

 

[bruceb]

In most states, yes, it is illegal for either an open container in the vehicle or drinking while within the vehicle, wether moving or not. It is also illegal if you are drunk and pulled over to sleep it off. It is still considered DUI by the police.