Visalia Criminal Defense Law Blog

A spokesperson for the Visalia Police Department reports that a 72-year-old area resident apparently decided to drive around striking people with his car on Halloween night. He fled the crash scene each and every time. Once he was tracked down, police determined that he was likely drunk at the time he caused the collisions.

The first incident occurred just before 7 p.m. on Oct. 31. A concerned motorist reported having seen the driver of Chevrolet Silverado crash into a mailbox along the 1700 block of South Garden Street. The motorist apparently didn't get out of his truck to survey the damage, but instead, kept driving.

So far, three individuals have been taken into police custody for their roles related to the Sept. 16 hit-and-run death of a well-respected elementary school administrator who worked for the Clovis Unified School District. Investigators with the California Highway Patrol say the man was struck and killed while taking a jog near Fraint Road in Fresno that day.

Highway patrol officers took the 18-year-old male believed to have caused the crash into custody soon after the incident occurred. He's since been charged with manslaughter and felony hit-and-run offenses.

Law enforcement authorities are getting desperate in response to the opioid crisis. As a result, many addicts who have done little more than share their drugs with a relative or friend are ending up facing charges from manslaughter to first-degree murder.

These charges are coming up all over the nation under little-known drug-induced homicide laws. Many of these laws were already on the books, but seldom (if ever) enforced. Others charges are being pressed under new interpretations of laws that were designed to target actual drug dealers and kingpins -- not addicts who simply share their drugs or sell to friends.

You never want to find yourself pulled over to the side of the road by a police officer. This is even more so the case if you have alcohol in your system.

If you're stopped for suspicion of DUI, you need to follow a few key pointers:

• Provide the requested documentation. The officer will start by asking for your license, registration and insurance card. It's nice to have this readily available, so you don't have to search long and hard to find it.
• Be courteous and respectful. There's nothing wrong with this behavior, as long as you stop short of admitting you did something wrong.
• Don't give the officer reason to dive deeper. For example, if you say you only had one drink with dinner, it gives the officer reason to believe you may be under the influence.
• You can refuse to partake in field sobriety tests. Unless you are 100 percent confident that you're sober, you can decline.
• Think before taking a chemical test. If you decline to do so, it can result in an automatic license suspension. However, if there are no test results during your court case, it's more difficult to prove that you were in the wrong.