Category Archives: Traffic Violations
Restaurant, drunken driver pay $3.75M to settle dram shop suit
By Phillip Bantz, South Carolina Lawyers Weekly A well-known restaurant chain has paid a $3.25 million settlement to a road crew worker who alleged that he was the victim of an over-served patron. The patron paid the worker an additional $500,000 to resolve the case. The worker, Calvin Singleton, alleged in a dram shop action filed… Read More »
A case in which the Court determined that warrantless blood tests incident to an arrest for drunk driving violate the Fourth Amendment, but warrantless breath tests incident to an arrest for drunk driving do not.
Birchfield v. North Dakota, Oyez, https://www.oyez.org/cases/2015/14-1468 (last visited Sep 4, 2016). Facts of the case: Danny Birchfield drove into a ditch in Morton County, North Dakota. When police arrived on the scene, they believed Birchfield was intoxicated. Birchfield failed both the field sobriety tests and the breath test. He was arrested, but he refused to… Read More »
Is Uber reducing drunk driving? New study says no.
By Fredrick Kunkle, The Washington Post A new study casts doubt on Uber’s claim that ride-sharing has reduced drunken driving. Researchers at Oxford University and the University of Southern California who examined county-level data in the United States before and after the arrival of Uber and its competitors in those markets found that ride-sharing had… Read More »
South Carolina police chief suspended during investigation into his alleged drunk driving
SPARTANBURG, S.C. (WSPA) – WSPA-TV reports that Laurens Police Captain Scott Satterfield is now under suspension and is being investigated for allegedly driving drunk and calling a man the N-word while vacationing in Horry County. That’s according to statements from fellow Laurens Police Officers. WSPA has obtained the statements from an unnamed source, and the… Read More »
Upstate law enforcement agencies call bill banning quotas unnecessary
By Daniel J. Gross Upstate law enforcement leaders say a bill that would bar agencies from setting ticket quotas for officers is unnecessary because they don’t have quotas. An S.C. Senate bill banning the imposition of quotas was unanimously passed in the House last month. Local law enforcement officials say most agencies don’t have such… Read More »
Cops won’t cop to use of quotas
By David Donovan, South Carolina Lawyers Weekly South Carolina’s House of Representatives unanimously passed a bill April 26 that would prohibit police departments from requiring officers to meet quotas for ticket-writing—not that many departments will admit to using quotas as it is. House Bill 4387 would bar quotas for citations, but will still allow departments… Read More »
Supreme Court reinstates DUI conviction based on exceptions to the video-recording requirement
By Phillip Bantz, South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Lack of a drunken driving arrest video or an affidavit from the arresting officer explaining the absence of the recording led a post-conviction relief judge to toss a defendant’s DUI-related convictions. But the South Carolina Supreme Court has reinstated Nathaniel Teamer’s prison sentence after finding that the PCR… Read More »
Can Breathalyzer pass constitutional test?
By Noah Feldman Can you be charged with a crime for refusing to take a Breathalyzer test when stopped on suspicion of drunken driving? It’s hard to think of a constitutional rights question that affects more people. The Supreme Court took it up last week, considering whether the Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable search and… Read More »
Will S.C. lawmakers lick ‘liquorcycle’ exemptions?
By Robert Behre, The Post and Courier South Carolina still provides one legal option for driving drunk, and it’s unclear if state lawmakers will put a cork in it this year. The state’s current moped laws are a lax and confusing hodgepodge that essentially allow those riding motorized scooters with smaller engines to operate as… Read More »
Senate bill could close DUI loophole for defense
By Mayci McLeod A bill discussed today in a state Senate subcommittee could change the way DUI cases are prosecuted. Dash cam footage is vital to a DUI case. It’s the law that DUI stops and field sobriety tests be videotaped and the way the law stands today, if that footage isn’t up to par,… Read More »