What would your first reaction be when driving under the influence and about to get pulled over? Hopefully that will never happen and if it does, hopefully you won’t shove a child in the driver’s seat to fool the cop.
That’s exactly what happened this past week in Muncie when Delaware County Sherriff’s Deputy Bill Curtis pulled over a suspected drunk driver.
Thirty-three year old James Storie was pulled over for suspicion of drunk driving. While being followed by the officer, Storie turned down several side streets before finally pulling over. When Deputy Curtis finally walked up to the minivan he found Storie’s girlfriend’s 12 year old daughter behind the wheel.
Apparently Storie thought his chances were better if he was only caught letting a child drive him home. He was wrong. Deputy Curtis saw through the ply and Storie is now facing charges of neglect of a dependent along with OWI.
Storie ended up blowing a .17 on a breath test, meaning he was over twice the legal limit of .08 percent. Although the IndyStar article doesn’t reveal if this is Storie’s first OWI or not, his number of prior convictions could seriously impact his potential sentence under Indiana law.
For a first time OWI he could face Class A misdemeanor charge. He could lose his license for up to 2 years, be required to serve 180 hours of community servive and take drug alcohol education classes. He could even be sentenced to jail time.
If this isn’t his first OWI conviction, the penalties could be multiplied. A second OWI in a period of less than 5 years is a felony charge. In addition to the potential penalties listed above, he would be required to have an ignition interlock device installed on his vehicle when his license was reinstated.
There are many factors that can influence the charges against you and the sentence they may carry. If you are facing OWI charges or any criminal case in the Indiana courts, call me to discuss the details today.