On Jan. 1, an 18-year-old New York man was taken into police custody after he took a police cruiser on a 13-mile joyride. According to the report, the teen took the vehicle after he had been taken into custody for driving his own car while intoxicated at about 2 a.m.
Authorities initially stopped the ca at a DWI checkpoint that was placed on W. 158th Street near the Henry Hudson Parkway intersection. He was found to have a blood-alcohol content level of .09 and had an underage passenger in the vehicle. He was handcuffed and put into the backseat of a police cruiser. The cruiser did not have a partition between the seats, so he was able to crawl into the front of the idling vehicle and take off with it.
He reportedly abandoned the vehicle near Saw Mill River Road in Yonkers. After the abandoned cruiser was found via GPS, the teen was located at about 4 a.m. Following the incident, he was charged with numerous offenses, including aggravated drunken driving, grand larceny and attempted assault of a police officer, among others.
People who have been arrested for drunk driving could face serious consequences if a conviction was obtained. DUI checkpoint stops that have been publicized in advance usually pass muster, so a criminal defense attorney may wish to use other strategies to combat the charges. One could be a challenge to the way that field sobriety or breath tests were conducted.
Source: New York Daily News, “Teen arrested for DWI steals cop car, takes it on 13-mile joyride“, Nicole Hensley, Jan. 2, 2017
