What's wrong with driving with your knees? I've usually got a cig in one hand and a soda in the other. Eating lunch only requires that I forsake the cigarette for a few moments. Don't ask what I shift with.

Kind of a technicality, but if you're over the legal limit, what can you expect?

I feel old now.

submitter: Passenger gets DUI for holding the wheel as the driver took a bite of his sandwich sammich

silly submitter

I agree apeman12.

They really shouldn't be charging the passenger, only the driver.

I don't think I would stop this guy from eating his sandwich... drunk or not!

If he wanted to get drunk, he shouldn't have expected to get driven home by a designated driver that night.

He was drunk, and was controlling the car. Shouldnt matter if he was on the roof sticking his arm in the window.

Put the farking sammich down and drive you asshat! You biatches with cell phones attached to your heads can follow the same advice.

What's the payout for this DUI Trifecta? With the whole Mell episode I'm pretty sure we've hit it every day this week.

Dumb
Wherever he was sitting, the drunk guy was apparently in (partial)control of the vehicle.
In control = driver.

Dumber
The guy in the drivers seat. Put down the sammich, fool.

Dumbest
I don't believe there is probable cause to believe Mr. Pittman was in actual physical control of the vehicle," the judge told the trooper in a note,

He told the cop he did it.
"Records show that when the trooper asked the driver why the car was swerving, Pittman leaned across the front seat and told the trooper it was his fault because he had briefly held onto the steering wheel while his friend was taking a bite of his sandwich."

If the person controlling the car was drunk ... yeah, he should get a DUI. What dumbass lets a drunk passenger take control of the wheel?

If not a DUI, at least Reckless Endangerment or something.

FTFA:
A state trooper said Derek Pittman had reached over and was steering the car while the driver was taking a bite of a sandwich that he was holding in both hands.

...

Pittman's attorney said the guy in the driver's seat wasn't given a sobriety test -- and besides, he never took his hand off the steering wheel, so the charge should be thrown out.

My head asplodes.

Why the hell do people panic when cops pull them over? Shut up, do not admit anything and let the courts figure it out. Anything you say can and WILL be used against you

Remember that.

Sounds like the judge may be using a little common sense in this case.

I think the drunk guy was giving the driver a handyjob and
that's why he was swerving. The sammich was a cover-up.

When are people going to learn to Never, Ever volunteer any unsolicited information to the cops? Dumbass replaces silly.

Anyone who can't drive with their knees doesn't deserve to be on the road.

fire the cop for wasting my tax money and call it a day.
make him work mall security, maybe he can make better decisions in a less demanding position.

TRUE STORY!

I was 16, the passenger in a friend's car, and he spilled his milkshake. I grabbed the wheel for him while he bent down to get it, and (oops), I hit a curb. We pulled over immediately, but a cop saw it, and gave *ME* the reckless driving ticket.

i find this part odd:
The trooper said the car was weaving on the road before he pulled it over. He said he then noticed a strong odor of alcohol coming from the car and saw the driver holding a large sandwich with both hands

does that mean he smelled alcohol before he pulled over or was this douchebag still holding the sandwhich in his hands when he was already pulled over?

either way i think they should both be charged. what difference does it make if you're in the seat or not? remember why we have drunk-driving laws in the first place? b\c when you're drunk, you're not fit to drive--it's dangerous. the stearing wheel controls the car. he is holding the streering wheel, thus he is controlling the car. he is drunk. he is opperating the vehicle while intoxicated--DUI. pure and simple. what's the problem? the driver is also an idiot.

Texaco Saves

fire the cop for wasting my tax money and call it a day.
make him work mall security, maybe he can make better decisions in a less demanding position.

how do you figure? he was doing his job.
it seems like a lot of your either didnt read the article or you're just plain stoopit. (i suppose D, all of the above would work too)

Lafcadio
TRUE STORY!

I was 16, the passenger in a friend's car, and he spilled his milkshake. I grabbed the wheel for him while he bent down to get it, and (oops), I hit a curb. We pulled over immediately, but a cop saw it, and gave *ME* the reckless driving ticket.


yeah. case in point. i know it sucks, and cops should use a little common-sense...i think the fright of hitting that curb and then getting pulled over was probably enough of a lesson that a warning would have been enough...but even still--what if you had hit another car? or a pedestrian? people need to learn that you can't take your hands of the wheel. ever. bad things happen when a two-ton piece of steel hurtling through space at 50 miles per hour isn't being controlled.

you spill something--you ignore it until you can pull over. i know that's easier said than done, but i resent the fact that some douchebag who is too "busy" that he has to eat and drive, talk on his cell and drive, have his starbucks mocha delight and drive is going to lose control and kill me... make-up and reading are the other two you see all the time...

/grumble grumble
//you kids get off my lawn

Hello?!?!

Drive with your knees!

Pathman:

"Pittman's attorney said the guy in the driver's seat wasn't given a sobriety test -- and besides, he never took his hand off the steering wheel, so the charge should be thrown out.

Court records show that the first district judge refused to sign the original arrest warrant for Pittman.

"I don't believe there is probable cause to believe Mr. Pittman was in actual physical control of the vehicle," the judge told the trooper in a note, according to The Patriot News."


The driver never took his hand off the wheel. Reading comprehension may not be a strong suit for you, so maybe you should take that into consideration before making venomous posts. Thank god for the judge or morons like you and the arresting officer would make things more difficult than they really are.

F*CK DA POLICE!!!

I have nothing against giving the driver a ticket for being an asshat and eating while driving. Giving the passenger a DUI is just stubborn idiocy from my point of view.

Texaco Saves

I think you may be the one in need of a little nettiquite lesson, as well as some refresher on reading the entire article. It says right in the article A state trooper said Derek Pittman had reached over and was steering the car while the driver was taking a bite of a sandwich that he was holding in both hands. If he's using both hands on the sandwich how can he still be holding the wheel at the same time. The only way I can picture it is by ducking his head down to the top of the steering wheel which is just as dangerous. Either way the guy should have had at least a reckless driving conviction.

Lafcadio: TRUE STORY!

I was 16, the passenger in a friend's car, and he spilled his milkshake. I grabbed the wheel for him while he bent down to get it, and (oops), I hit a curb. We pulled over immediately, but a cop saw it, and gave *ME* the reckless driving ticket.

What would have happened if your friend rear-ended another car, would he have gotten the ticket since he was in control of the gas pedal and brake?

Sorry, but that comes down to believing one person's side of the story over another's, and even in that case the passenger should not be faulted because if anyone was in the passenger's seat and someone started swerving with both hands off the wheel while they ate a sandwich they would grab the wheel as well in defense. (run on sentences rule!)
The driver should always be in control of the vehicle, and it's called a passenger seat for a reason. I stand by the judge's decision.

Now, now. I can't understand why this has a silly tag and folks are all up in arms about how domb this is.
Had the drunk passenger, being in a moment of control of the vehicle, struck your family car and injured/killed you and yours...you might just think differently.
/not MADD
//just sayin'

Sugarloafer, I think I would be mad at the driver in that case for not having control of the vehicle. There's no way a passenger could control acceleration and braking. When you're in front of the glovebox you're not driving, you're holding the wheel. It's HTWUI not DUI.

and the MADD comment made me snort while i laughed

This is one of the times when What happened != what could have happened.

If someone is driving drunk, they could kill someone, arrest them.
If someone is swerving around, they could kill someone, arrest them.

If someone drunk has split second control of the car while the driver is busy, and swerves, but there is no accident; whats the problem?

Every person here, I don't care how old or young you are, will have someone next to you steer for a split second at some point; or will grab the wheel for someone.
Why?
Because we drive for major percentages of our life.

Personally, if I know my passenger is drunk, I don't ask him, I eat the sandwich later.
But then again, I can eat and drive at the same time.

Then again, I'm capable of talking on a cell phone and driving at the same time. Before I get flamed, I regularly attend open track days and autocrosses, I got permission from my instructor to run three laps of Buttonwillow while on the cell phone, just to see.
He said I was marginally off-line, and my friend on the other end said the engine noise was her only tip I was racing.
Not that I drive on the cell phone normally, because I can *gasp* call people back when I stop.

Cliff notes:
It could have been an accident. But it wasn't. Warn them both, strongly. But a DUI is overboard.

uh Texaco what i wrote was that i found the quote in the article odd:

The trooper said the car was weaving on the road before he pulled it over. He said he then noticed a strong odor of alcohol coming from the car and saw the driver holding a large sandwich with both hands


do you see? i wasnt arguing over what actually happened--i wasnt there--i was wondering if that was just crappy public-school writing or he really was still eating the sandwhich when the cop got to his window. because if so--wow. the balls on that guy. if not--then the reporter is a dumdum. either way--that was a separate issue. i can break it down more for you in the future.


so, while "giving the passenger a DUI is just stubborn idiocy from [your] point of view" it is perfectly reasonble from mine. so you keep on keepin' on w\ that enlightened point of view of yours... but i will tell you this--it's not just me being a moron.

this scenario happens to be exactly how my college roommate (and best friend) was killed. and the judge ended up seeing it your way--so thank god for the judge and morons like you who kept the guy who killed my friend out of trouble so that he can do it again and someone else can feel my pain.
misery loves company after all.

/oh...and fark you and your ignorant point of view.

This is second story from my (small) town to appear on Fark in the last 2 weeks.
The last time, someone two blocks away apparently fell off the porch onto an axe.
The day there is a "Carlisle" tag, I'm throwing my sheep in the truck and leaving.

Calcartman

If someone drunk has split second control of the car while the driver is busy, and swerves, but there is no accident; whats the problem?


if someone fires a gun (accidentally even) into a crowd but doesnt hit anyone, what's the problem?

by the way it's nice to see you're such a great driver, at 19 no less, that you can do what most studies done on the subject claim is dangerous. but alas, every bell curve has a high end and outliers...
try going to pubmed and running a search...

Driven to distraction: dual-Task studies of simulated driving and conversing on a cellular telephone
Psychol Sci. 2001 Nov;12(6):462-6.

Cell phone-induced failures of visual attention during simulated driving.
J Exp Psychol Appl. 2003 Mar;9(1):23-32.

those are two good starts.

Incidents like this lead me to believe that a new prohibition is coming. First cigs, then alcohol.

Pathman

if someone fires a gun (accidentally even) into a crowd but doesnt hit anyone, what's the problem?

Your hyperbole is astounding, but really you haven't said anything that remotely makes sense in this thread anyway. Yes we have drunk driving laws, as to how effective they are and the main purpose behind them...well, perhaps you should read up on the history of DUI law in this country. The law basically moves an arbitrary bar down the blood alchohol scale, not to mention how bad the testing machines are.

As to control of the car, just holding the wheel doesn't imply it, there's still the matter of those rubber pedals on the floor. Giving a passenger a DUI for holding the wheel is plain stupid, but then when have DUI laws made any real sense? The driver should have got a reckless driving ticket and a solid chewing out for trying to eat a damn sandwich while driving and the cop should have left it that.

I'm sorry it conflicts with your feelings, but i'm glad the passenger in your roommate's circumstance was set free. It is completely the driver's fault. It may have been a stupid decision, and you have my sympathy, but i feel that the person behind the wheel should be fully responsible. If anyone grabbed the wheel while i was driving i would bat their hand away because i know that i should be responsible and keep control of the vehicle that i have accelerated to the point of being a deadly force.
The passenger (who most likely was some drunk fool) shouldn't be placed in the situation where he would have to control the car.... it is the driver's fault and fark you for not seeing that.

king_dead
It's hardly arbitrary. there have been any number of studies that look at levels of brain neurotoxicity as a result of alcohol levels in the blood. The general consensus is that .08 is a standardized level at which cognition, attention, and reaction time tend to begin to rapidly decrease.

as for the hyperbole...that's exactly what i meant it to be--it's clearly an absurd analogy used for emphasis or effect--but fair enough, it is a bit of a reach. my point, however, i think is valid. if you do something dangerous, just because nothing bad happens doesnt mean it was ok to do in the first place.

how about we come to the middle on this one--if the driver suddenly drops something and lets go of the wheel and the passenger reaches over to grab it then that's one thing. he's probably the hero for avoiding anything the car might otherwise have hit -- but if it's something he's doing voluntarily so his friend can feed his hunger-pangs then he's just as culpable as the driver. i think that makes perfect sense.

F off MADD, sick of thier BS political manuvering that doesn't allow me to drink 3 beers and go home without fear of a DUI....i will take a manuverability challenge against any 65 year old after drinking a 12 pack and see who wins......

news flash------.08 is not drunk/unable to operate a vehicle

it's nothing to do w\ my feelings, but yeah--it is lame to use personal anecdotes in a net forum. but like i just said above, it's one thing if someone just grabs the wheel. but they had an arangement of sorts going-- you hold the wheel--i eat. if i was the passenger i would have said "piss off, pull over" he didnt, so he is responsible. (all of this is contigent on the fact that what the cop is saying isn't bullshiat of course)

bake420

F off MADD, sick of thier BS political manuvering that doesn't allow me to drink 3 beers and go home without fear of a DUI....i will take a manuverability challenge against any 65 year old after drinking a 12 pack and see who wins......


news flash------.08 is not drunk/unable to operate a vehicle


i see i have been bickering w\ the wrong guy...

I'm taking your side on that one Pathman.
The immaturity of those remarks are breathtaking.

I can't believe there are people in this thread defending this asinine state trooper. the driver of the car is the person sitting in the driver's seat. the passenger can never be the driver of the car, that's why they're the passenger. If the driver asked an intoxicated passenger to hold the wheel the driver is at fault.


remember, the police get brownie points for arresting people. they sometimes don't care if it's the right thing to do.

The sandwich in question:


/dijon mustard
//bacon is extra!

I completely disagree with the outcome of this situation.

Really, the cop should have ticketed them both: one for DUI and one for reckless driving. No-one in this situation was doing the right thing, and quite honestly, Philly's streets are already to dangerous for stupidity like this to be allowed.

I mean, seriously. Tow trucks park out on the medians of major Philly streets every rush-hour, because it's profitable. That city has a serious "People who don't know how to keep two hands on a steering wheel and concentrate on the road" problem, and I think a few well-deserved tickets could help.

Fools are lucky their Fark headline wasn't this:


[Dumbass] Two dead in major accident in Philly. Apparently, physics isn't suspended for you when your drunk friend holds the steering wheel so you can eat your sandwich.