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According to STLToday.com, a teenage driver was arrested by the Missouri Highway Patrolnot only on suspicion of driving while intoxicate, but also for three counts of second-degree assault and three counts of armed criminal action.
At about 1 a.m. Tuesday, the patrol says, the driver was driving too fast for conditions and the car became airborne while cresting the top of a hill in Franklin County. He lost control of the car and it left the road, hit a tree and overturned. The car came to rest on its roof. Both the driver and all three of his passengers were injured.
For this driver, the consequences for drinking and driving may go far beyond "merely" getting a DWI. He faces an assault charge for each of his passengers who were injured as a result of his actions, and a charge for armed criminal action for each of the passengers who were injured by his use of his vehicle.
These are not the type of charges that are going to "go away" easily. The interests of the victims must be considered by the prosecutor and the court, and cannot be easily disregarded, whether the victims cooperate or not.
By definition, most drunk drivers don't consider the consequences of their actions, or maybe think that they will walk away from legal responsibility and accountability for their actions with the help of the right attorney. Most of them give little, if any, thought to the limits of an attorney's ability to convince a prosecutor and a judge, much less a victim's family, to give them another chance.
And ounce of prevention is worth a pound - or thousands of dollars or months of jail time - of cure. Don't drink (or use) and drive.
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