DUI perspectives

[Hop]

I'm looking for possible help here - no slams please.

My son got pulled for a dui last weekend. He blew a .13. He told me that he had 3-4 beers over a 2 hr dinner and drove home. That prob means that he had 4-5 beers. He's 21 and recently moved home because he was gearing up to enlist in the AF.

He works at a restaurant as a server so he's not exactly rich.

He drives a 93 Ford F150 that I just put a new engine into and is currently up for sale.

The day after it happened I went and got his truck out of impound for $200 that he didn't have. Then we went home and I told him to get my tool box and had him remove the plates. Then we drove over to the DMV and turned them in. After that I told him to call and cancell his insurance. He agreed that he couldn't afford it and didn't fuss at all.

It's his first offence. I was in another state when he called me at 2am from the back of the patrol car. No accident, No passengers, I can't figure what he was pulled over for. He said that the cop never told him. He said that the cop pulled him over, physically pulled him out of the truck, handcuffed him and told him to sit on the curb. Then the cop went to the patrol car and came back and cuffed him to a street sign, took his wallet and went back to the patrol car. Then the cop came back and did the heel toe walk and blow into the tube tests and then said that he was under arrest for impaired driving. Sounds kind of fishy to me. Also, when we got the truck out of impound there was a hassle because the cop listed the truck as an accident vehicle and that somebody was sent to the hospital. Never happened. Perhaps the cop should have been given the heel to toe and blow in the tube test?

My son checked with the AF recruiter and they said that they would still take him but that he would have to wait for 6 mos so that they would be assured that it would not be a reoccuring issue.

We talked to several attorneys and they pretty much said that he was screwed under the new laws but that they would take the case for $1500.

I'm not sure what I'd be getting for that money but everyone that I talk to says that I better get the laywer. I know that my son doesn't have the money and if I pay it I also know that I'll never see it back.

I don't just want to leave him hanging - he is my son after all even though I might want to kick his butt from one end of the state to the other.

I told him today that this is going to cost about $15,000 when the insurance hike and fees are all said and done with.

I guess that I've already resigned myself to the fact that I'll pay the bill and probably hunt him down a scooter because I'm already tired of hauling his butt back and forth to work.

The part that I don't like is that he's not feeling any pain over this. I'm doing all of the leg work and checking into the lawyers and paying all of the bills. He could care less. He's slightly inconvenienced. What a crappy situation.

Sorry for being so wordy.