On Friday, August 14, a suspected drunk driver was detained in Newhall after a deputy used his own vehicle to stop the suspect’s. According to reports, witnesses noticed the driver appeared impaired and called it in to the SCV Sheriff Station. The responding deputy arrived just in time to stop the (now sleeping) suspect’s truck from rolling into an intersection and oncoming traffic.
The responding deputy damaged the driver’s side of his vehicle, but he himself was unharmed. After field sobriety tests, the suspect’s blood-alcohol level (BAC) was at 0.20% – a little over double the legal limit. The suspect is probably going to be facing DUI charges, if not any additional ones.
A first offense DUI (if indeed it was the suspect’s first time), has wide-ranging penalties from fines and classes to jail time. Some people will be able to continue driving if they agree to have an ignition interlock device (IID) installed on their vehicles. Others may find that their driving privileges are restricted to going to and from work only.
When someone is charged with their first DUI, they rarely face jail time unless another person was injured or killed as a result. However, just because a first-timer doesn’t go to jail doesn’t mean they don’t face steep penalties. For first-time DUI charges, the defendant will generally be forced to pay several thousands of dollars’ worth of fines and fees.
When someone is charged with a second or third DUI, depending on the circumstances, is when they may be facing jail time.
It’s unknown at this point whether or not the suspect in the Newhall arrest has been charged with a DUI before. However, if he has, it’s likely he will be facing stiffer charges than he would were this his first time.
