Croox0r

First Emperical Study, 03 March 2006

2006-03-05T13:54:00.000-08:00

This will be the first in a series of reports on the dangers of intoxication. After a very large Wild Turkey and Peach Tea and two Rolling Rocks, I got my BAC up to 0.17%, just more than twice the legal limit. I also played darts, and though I lost by a considerable margin, at no time did I miss the board or in some other way threaten the other people in the bar. I even had the good judgment to not throw while anyone was removing darts from the adjacent board (on the off chance I had a wild throw or a dart bounce out).

Conclusion: at 0.17 BAC I can throw small, pointy projectiles in a lightly populated bar without posing a threat to myself or others. Needless to say, I was able to safely walk myself home without causing any kind of disturbance.

Key Assumptions

2006-03-01T09:04:00.000-08:00

These are just a few assumptions which should not strike anyone as being at all astonishing, but are necessary to keep in mind for any reasonable study of public intoxication to take place. These may be updated from time to time:

1. People should be allowed to exercise their rights and freedoms without breaking the law. There is some good in knowing that your actions are in accordance with the law, beyond avoiding the risk of arrest.

2. It is possible to be legally intoxicated in public without causing a disturbance and without posing a threat to yourself or others. Imagine the person who has a few drinks at a bar and then simply walks home. The legal level for intoxication being so low, most people who leave bars are probably drunk.

3. Some police officer somewhere has or will charge a person with public intoxication even though he is not causing a disturbance, and does not pose a threat to himself or others. For evidence of this, I point you to Ron White's "They Call Me Tater Salad" (Specifically, the Tater Salad sketch of that routine), where in White is arrested for being drunk in public after being thrown out of a bar after an altercation with security. It seems from White's side of the story, he was charged because he was drunk and causing a disturbance in private, and then went into public, where there is no evidence that the disturbance would continue or a new one would arise.

4. There is some statute or ordinance which does not relate to intoxication which covers anyone who creates a public disturbance, poses a threat to himself or others, or is about to be (but is not yet) driving.

Opening Remarks

2006-02-28T21:12:00.000-08:00

The basic purpose of this blog is to explore public intoxication laws in the US and examine their usefulness within the light of other similar peace disturbance ordinaces. My theory is that the laws are entirely redundant and serve only to make criminal the act of peacefully being drunk in public, and to make it a worse crime to be obnoxious due to intoxication instead of any other reason (such as being angry or just plain rude). This blog is also an excuse for my drinking habit.

Since there are so many public intoxication laws in the US, this blog will deal with them mostly in general, with likely very few references to specific ordinances.

"Public intoxication is generally a misdemeanor recognized by statute as an offense for which an officer may arrest without a warrant, especially if the intoxicated person is actually disturbing the peace. Intoxication includes the use of drugs or alcohol. To sustain a charge of public intoxication, the elements needed are (1) being in a state of intoxication and (2) being in a public place. The state of being intoxicated is a matter of common observation.

Under a statute authorizing peace officers to arrest without warrant for disorderly conduct, drunkenness in a public place has been held to be disorderly conduct, though the individual is not otherwise creating a disturbance. It has also been said that the arrest of a drunken person in the street may frequently be justified on the ground of anticipated breach of the peace.

In some jurisdictions an officer making an arrest for drunkenness in good faith and on probable cause does not incur liability, even though he happens to arrest one who is in fact sober. In other jurisdictions, however, a civil action for damages lies against a police officer who erroneously arrests an innocent and sober person, since an officer, although he acts in good faith and upon reasonable grounds of belief, is considered as having no authority to arrest an individual who is not in fact intoxicated.

A warrantless arrest for public intoxication may be made based upon a person's presence, while intoxicated, in a motor vehicle, as a passenger in some jurisdictions. However, other jurisdictions do not consider a privately-owned vehicle, whether on the public street or in a public parking lot, to be a "public place" under an intoxication statute, as the vehicle is a conveyance to which the public is not permitted access."

5 Am Jur 2d ARREST § 64