Texas arresting people in bars for being drunk

[Morpheus]

Its really not that hard to tell who has been drinking, who hasnt been drinking, and who has had way too much to drink.

[-Concho-]

Originally posted by Kaw1000
I dont have a problem with cops! you know alot of good cops....great...I know alot of bad cops....young punks that were probably bullied as kids and now that they got a badge...they are now bullies themselves......The law in this country is getting out of control...every time you turn around theres a new law......pretty soon If I look at someone the wrong way I'll be arrested!! If I spit on the street I'll probably get arrested..If I drink 1 beer I can be arrested......If im drunk and walk home from a bar I can be arrested.

With the attitude you display here I can see why you get hassled by the cops.

Your posts are also hard to read, would you please put them in  a more readable format?

If you feel you must drink to the point where you lose control maybe you should stay home.

[-Concho-]

Originally posted by FiLtH
I wouldnt doubt it. I was stationed in Abilene for 4 years. At the inprocessing meeting with the town cops, he explained to us they had ways of figuring out who the drunk drivers were. The guy that speeds 5 mph over the limit is a careless drunk. The guy who goes 5 mph under the limit is a careful drunk, and the guy going the speed limit is a sneaky drunk.

  Thing is..he was serious. Texas...I think you have to be born there to fully appreciate it.

What years where you here?

[kevykev56]

Originally posted by lasersailor184
It is a little bit of a judgement call.  But usually, Public Intoxication has Vomitting uncontrollably, Passing Out, Urinating uncontrollably, Yelling really loud, not being able to stand (past the slight stumbling)...  Pretty much the crux of what way way way too drunk people stereotypically do.  They usually just make tulips of themselves.

Your a rational person. That would be im sure what the law would require. If it worked that way all the time I wouldnt have a problem.

This law is requiring people to TRUST someone elses arbitrary judgment. What is impaired to you the rational person may not be to a cop who is angry because his wife is cheating on him with this guy in the bar. The cop doesnt have to prove anything just take him into custody. And if the guy gives him lip...he is resisting. We all know what happens to those who resist the cops ... OUCH!!!!

I dont hate cops, and also have some friends who are good cops. I just dont trust people...

[lasersailor184]

It's not like these cops are just randomly throwing the people who look the drunkest in jail.  They are picking out the belligerant ones.  It's very easy to pick these ones out.

Whether or not the cop is angry does not make him decided what Public Intoxication is.  The person being arrested still has to show those traits.  While a lot of people might let someone slip for some minor infraction of Public Intoxication, it is still an infraction.

But even when they arrest those people, they get BAC levels, and document what happens.


Just like every other crime, you can't throw a person in jail because you feel like it.



But the real problem here is you.  You say that you don't trust a COP to make that decision, when you actually don't trust yourself.  It's a psychological defense mechanism that one makes to try to rationalize away what you don't want yourself to be able to do.

[kevykev56]

Originally posted by lasersailor184

But the real problem here is you.  You say that you don't trust a COP to make that decision, when you actually don't trust yourself.  It's a psychological defense mechanism that one makes to try to rationalize away what you don't want yourself to be able to do.

I have been aligned with almost every argument I have seen you get into on this board but this statment is so far left of reality It is laughable.

How can you give blind trust to anyone you dont know? I know I sure dont. I trust myself without doubt to make the right choice. I am 34 years old and can honestly say I have never driven drunk in my life. I have my own personal reasons that assures me this will never happen.

I do ocassionaly have a drink or two while out but never enough to even slightly impair my judgment while at the wheel. When I say a drink or two it would never be more than 1 an hour and never more than 2 in a night to then get behind the wheel or handlebars.

I have been, gasp "Intoxicated" at local establishments. Never have I been bilegerant or out of control while intoxicated. I would never get that way without a DD and friends to share the fun. Yes intoxicated but still responsible. My trust is in my friends and the DD that is there at the time....not the COP who can decide on his own terms who goes downtown.

I trust an officer to make that decision as much as I trust the government to hold my guns at night and give them back the next morning...  

Nowhere is there any lack of self trust on my part.

[Hangtime]

Damn straight, Kev!

 

"TRUST.... but VERIFY!"

[lasersailor184]

Yet again, Hang swoops in to make another useless point.



Who said I trusted anything?  I don't.


However, don't fool yourself into thinking that you don't trust a police officer to make that judgement.  The truth of the matter is that you wouldn't trust yourself to make that very same judgement.  This is called 'Projection.'  I was blanking on what it was called earlier.

[Hangtime]

it's been my experience that young folks and cops are in the roles of adversaries at pretty much every likely point of contact.

it's also been my experience that cops given 'assignments' that involve ordinances that are not sharply defined.,. i.e. left to the disgresson of the officer, tend to not come out any other way than the officers.

as 'ol gramps once said "cops got guns, quota's and a deadline. don't mess with 'em, kid."

he wuz right.

[lasersailor184]

Don't confuse me for surporting police either.  I have had too many bad experiences to ever trust one anytime soon.

[beet1e]

skuzzy - sorry if I had anything to do with the original thread being whacked. I didn't think what was said was any worse than some other (uncensored) threads, but YMMV.

Originally posted by kevykev56
Just this week I had a couple too many to drive home from the bar. I stayed and played pool for a couple hours till I no longer felt any effects and I was good to go home. Mind you I rarely drink and was prob just over the limit when I decided to stay for a bit. But Should I have been arrested at that moment?  

Kev, you were on thin ice. I know of a case where a guy's DD had left without him, so he got into his own car to sleep it off. He awoke after a couple of hours and felt fine to drive, so off he went. He got stopped, and was found to be still way over the limit for driving, and was banned.

The problem with alcohol is that it's your judgement that becomes impaired including, most importantly, your ability to judge when you've had enough, or are capable of driving. Thus it's best to make the transport arrangements in a moment of stone cold sobriety. If I'm going out for a drink, I always walk to the local (15 mins) or take a taxi if I'm going somewhere else.

A few years ago when I was working in the Denver area, a bunch of us went out for dinner at the Chop House, to be followed by a few beers at a bar in the LoDo district. The bar where we finished had one of those self-test intoximeters. You may have seen one yourself. While I was waiting for the others and our return taxi, I thought I'd try it out.  I had to put 50 cents into the machine, and take a drinking straw from the dispenser at the side, insert that into an opening on the machine, and blow into the other end of the straw. By this time, I'd probably had wine with dinner, and a few microbrews - the Chop House has an excellent range, and so do quite a few other bars/restaurants in Denver. I was walking around OK, and even gave the taxi driver directions on the return journey as it turned out. So I was expecting the reading to go about half way up the scale. But... wham! The needle went off the scale so fast it's a wonder it didn't snap off against the top stop!

I felt fine - wasn't hung over or anything the following day, unlike some of the others who didn't handle the altitude very well. Goes to show you can't tell how safe you are to drive according to how you "feel".

[john9001]

Originally posted by beet1e

. I was walking around OK, and even gave the taxi driver directions on the return journey as it turned out. So I was expecting the reading to go about half way up the scale. But... wham! The needle went off the scale so fast it's a wonder it didn't snap off against the top stop!

I felt fine - wasn't hung over or anything the following day, unlike some of the others who didn't handle the altitude very well. Goes to show you can't tell how safe you are to drive according to how you "feel".

what are you trying to prove, that the machine was out of calibration or that the DUI law is wrong.

what tests have been done to prove that 0.08 is "impaired"?  saying the alphabet or standing on one leg have nothing to do with driving.

[-Concho-]

Beetle,

It could have been residual alcohol in your mouth that caused the high reading.

To get an accurate reading your supposed to wait 15 minutes for the residual to burn off.

[mora]

I've asked police to give me a brethalyzer test quite a many times. I used to live next to a police station and I always went to take a "blow" before driving the following day. A few times I was over twice over the legal limit(.05) without feeling drunk at all. Also I've never driven drunk despite having had quite a few drinks over the years and neither have 95% of people I know.

[Jackal1]

Originally posted by beet1e
I was walking around OK, and even gave the taxi driver directions on the return journey as it turned out.  

Totaly priceless.
I would imagine there was a taxi driver with a little nip under his belt after he dumped this one off.