The War on Drunk Driving has gone too far. The highly-publicized arrest yesterday of Alexandra Kerry, daughter of U.S. Senator John Kerry, provides prima facie evidence.
Miss Kerry, a 36-year old film producer and director, was stopped by Los Angeles police while motoring in Hollywood. They detained her on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol.
When they hauled her into the police station and made her take a breathalyser test, she came in under the legal limit. Yet they still booked her on charges of drunk driving.
Miss Kerry’s arrest is wrong on several levels.
First of all, one has to question the arresting officers’ pretext for stopping the woman in the first place. They claim that she “violated a traffic law which got their attention.”
So what did she do? Did she run a red light? Was she speeding? Was she driving alone in the car pool lane?
Nope, none of the above. She was driving a vehicle with expired tags.
And just how intoxicated was Miss Kerry? Was she so far over California’s legal limit that she fell out of her car stinking drunk? Was she behaving erratically, say, flashing onlookers like notorious celebrity drunks Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan?
No and no. In fact, Miss Kerry had a blood alcohol level of 0.6 percent, which actually is 0.2 percent below California’s legal limit.
The daughter of the Massachusetts senator and 2004 Democrat presidential nominee was charged with drunk driving, according to an LA police department spokesperson, because, under California law, a person can be prosecuted for DUI – even if they are not legally drunk – if they simply are judged by police to have operated their vehicle unsafely due to alcohol.
If Miss Kerry ultimately is convicted of DUI, it will mark an ominous new milestone in the War on Drunk Driving.
For no matter how little a person drinks before getting behind the wheel – a bottle of beer, a glass of wine, even a couple tablespoons of cough syrup – he or she could be pulled over by police and arrested on charges of driving under the influence of alcohol.
That should be troubling to all of us – drinkers and non-drinkers alike – who cherish our civil liberties.
Comments
MADD is responsible for the lowering of the BAC. They are working now to make it lower.
Kerry will not be charged!
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