I read an article this week in USA today about a New Mexico man who was arrested for DUI. So what is so interesting about that you ask? Well there is an allegation that he was having sex with a female as he was driving. Yes, you read that correct. Apparently Luis Briones was having sex while he was driving. He got into a car accident. The female was ejected through the windshield, and was found naked without serious injury thankfully. Mr. Briones was apparently found some time later hiding from the police behind a cactus.
So that got me thinking. What is the weirdest, oddest DUI case I have ever head of. Personally I have never represented someone with that weird of a fact pattern. Even when I worked as a public defender and I was getting a lot more cases I never had a set of odd facts. But I have heard of some cases either from other DUI Attorneys, or just sitting in Court and hearing about the facts during a motion, trial, or plea. So here are the top 5 weirdest cases I have heard of.
5. Man arrested for DUI in Snohomish County who was naked. I remember this case was a few years ago. I was in Court waiting for my case to be called. There was a plea going on, and when the Judge read the police report to determine whether there were facts sufficient he started chuckling. Asked the defendant what happened, and he said, “I was driving drunk, and I was naked.” The entire courtroom started to laugh, I will never forget it.
4. Woman arrested for DUI after allegedly flipping off Cop car. This case was a colleagues of mine. The reason the Cop pulled the defendant over was because she flipped him off. But odd thing about this case was the woman was pretty old. I guess when you hear something like that you expect it to be some young kid, not a grandma.
3. Man arrested for DUI after passenger mooned crowd. Again this was a colleagues case. Not the same one as above. It involved a young kid. He was driving in downtown Seattle and his passenger thought it was a good idea to pull down his pants and moon a group of people in Belltown. Unfortunately there was a Cop car right by that saw the whole thing. I bet the driver of that car was pretty upset for getting him busted for DUI.
2. Woman arrested for DUI for getting car high centered at Jack in the Box. This was a friend of a fried situation. But apparently after a night of drinking this woman thought it was a good idea to get some food from Jack in the Box. But was so drunk she got her car stuck in the drive thru.
1. Blind man arrested for DUI. Yes that is right a blind man was arrested for DUI after getting into a car accident. My wife told me about this one. I guess a blind man was driving his friend around. The friend was extremely intoxicated and he was giving the blind man who was also impaired directions on where to turn, how to drive, etc.
Well there you have it. My top 5 oddest DUI cases I have heard of as a Seattle DUI Attorney. Im sure I have probably forget a few, and the man arrested in New Mexico would easily top my list. Although the blind driver would be tough to beat. Any fellow DUI Attorneys out there feel free to comment on the oddest fact patterns you have had or heard of in a DUI case.
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About the author: Matthew Leyba is a DUI Attorney in Seattle, WA. His practice focuses on representing those accused of DUI and other traffic offenses. He is currently rated as one of the Best Seattle DUI Attorneys by Avvo, and ranked as a Rising Star in DUI Defense by Super Lawyers magazine. An honor less than 2.5% of all Attorneys receive in Washington State.