Drunk driving... with a twist...

[lordshipmayhem]

(Two posts in one night...)

In Orange Beach, Alabama, they stopped a car that sped away from the cops and was driven in an "erratic manner". The driver was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol, speeding, reckless endangerment and leaving the scene of an accident.

The driver was an 11-year-old girl.

From CNN:

"You go up there thinking it's a felon you're dealing with," said assistant police Chief Greg Duck. He declined to release the girl's blood alcohol level but said a blood test at the hospital showed it was higher than .02, the legal limit for minors.

I don't know whether to be more worried that an 11-year-old girl was driving while under the influence of alcohol, or that the state of Alabama has a blood alcohol legal limit for minors. The implication is that enough youngsters drink that they feel they need one. I'm suddenly curious about other states and provinces' regulations regarding legal limits for minors.

Comments

[sirgarrett.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't worry too much about the "legal limit for a minor". When you've got a law you've got to have specifics, especially if she was not in possession of the alchol at that point. After all if there's no legal limit for a minor then if they thought they were about to get busted for possesion they could just chug it and then no longer be in possesion.

[lordshipmayhem.livejournal.com]

Actually, what worried me wasn't that they had a legal limit for a minor, but that said legal limit wasn't somewhat closer to zero.

.02 BA is a fair amount of booze for an 11-year-old.

[kats-kradle.livejournal.com]

This case is clearly not the sort of thing the law was aimed at I'm pretty sure on.

I'm guessing it was done to allow people to let their mid to older teens have a glass of wine at a wedding, or limited beer at a bbq, or something of that nature as well as the reason listed by sirgarrett.

Yes, .02 is still a fair bit for an eleven year old but at the same the eleven year old should not have had access to a car, the car keys OR that much alcohol so I'm betting that there's a good shot at a negligence case for her parents/guardian.