License Suspended 72 Times, Man Hits Police Car

Welcome once again to Lato's Law. Here's Steve Lato. — I remember a long time ago, way before I became an attorney, hearing stories about people getting arrested for drunk driving and they'd had like 30 or 40 convictions and you'd go, "How does that even happen? " But most states have cracked down on drunk driving over the last couple decades and these stories have become less common, but they still do happen. And it's amazing because David just sent me a note saying, "Steve, check out the story out of New York from WNYT where police say a motorcyclist with 72 license suspensions, 72 license suspensions, drove drunk and hit a patrol car. " So, it's it's one thing to drive drunk, but when you hit the patrol car while drunk, that's almost like, I don't know, extra. So, Montgomery County Sheriff's deputies said a motorcyclist was arrested after a chase that ended with a crash into a patrol vehicle. So, there's also a chase involved. The man in question is 52 years old. He was arrested after the May 23rd incident in the city of Amsterdam and well, the incident took place in Amsterdam and nearby towns. You got to read a lot into this. It happened in Amsterdam and nearby towns. According to the county sheriff's office, the police in Amsterdam tried to stop the man who was on a Suzuki motorcycle before deputies were asked to help as he headed onto State Highway 30 and then State Highway 61. So, apparently, didn't pull over when he should have and other officers got pulled into this. The sheriff's office said that the man kept going into the towns of Florida and Glenn, then tried to make a U-turn at the intersection of State Highways 161 and 30A when he saw another deputy. Deputies said the motorcycle stalled, but the man managed to restart it and then struck the bumper of a deputy's patrol vehicle before falling to the ground. He was taken into custody without further incident. Deputies said the man was found to be intoxicated and had an open container and also some drug paraphernalia on him at the time. And you know on a motorcycle with an open container. Um yeah, the release from the press uh from the police for the press said he later refused the chemical test to determine the alcohol and or drug content of his blood. Investigators said that the records from the DMV showed his New York driver's license had been suspended and later revoked since 2009. The release said he then had 72 additional suspensions and revocations with 48 still active. Now, we don't know if all 72 of those fall after 2009 or not. It's a little unclear. And he has two prior DWI-related convictions, but those were not within the last 10 years. So, this might count as a quote-unquote first offense drunk driving in that sense, but of course you've got the fleeing and eluding. Um and driving a suspended or revoked and a whole bunch other stuff. Trust me, there's a legal mess here. A whole smorgasbord of legal issues. Uh the man was charged with first-degree aggravated unlicensed operation misdemeanor DWI operating a motor vehicle without insurance operating an unregistered motorcycle operating a motorcycle with an improper license plate failing to use due care passing an emergency vehicle and criminal mischief. So, they didn't go with the fleeing and eluding. He was arraigned in Florida Town Court and remanded without bail pending further proceedings in Glentown Court. And again, that's one of those things you got to think about if you're committing crimes in different cities at the same time like in a police chase, theoretically, you can be charged in each town. And that can become a mess also. But a bigger question, of course, always is that if you get arrested, you want to be able to post bail and get out so you can live your life between now and when you have to go to court. And one of the things that you have to demonstrate to a court is not just that you have money. A lot of people assume that bail, I need someone to come bail me out. Bail money just puts up money so that if you don't show up, the money will then be taken from you as a punishment. That's not really what bail is all about. Bail, as most basic and oldest sense, is the idea that you will show up for court when asked to show up. And the money, believe it or not, was originally intended to be posted by somebody else. Now, some states will allow you to post your own bail, but quite often it's somebody else who will vouch for, yes

I I think this person will show up and I'll put my money on it, okay? However, the judges and the courts don't have to grant bail automatically. They're allowed to look at all kinds of things including whether or not you're a flight risk, whether or not they think you'll show up for court, cooperate with the court. And don't get me wrong, nobody's getting locked up without bail on a traffic offense. However, the bail terms might be ugly because a court's going to look at this and go, "Well, gee, how likely is this guy to take what we tell him seriously? " Well, let's see now. He's got 72 additional suspensions and revocations. This might lead to a 73rd, but those first 72 didn't quite sink in. Hmm. Maybe he's not a good risk. So, I wouldn't be surprised if yeah, he can probably get bailed out, but with all kinds of terms like ankle bracelets, uh all kinds of monitoring, snap inspections, make you come in and determine whether or not you've had thing to put in your system that you shouldn't have. And so, I wouldn't be surprised if there's all kinds of restrictions placed on the guy. But, the bigger question here is, and most people can read between the lines on this, I don't need to explain this to you, the fact that he doesn't have a driver's license, and he's driving a motorcycle, that it has a wrong plate on it, that's not registered properly, and doesn't have insurance on it, and he has no driver's license. Those things all kind of happen together. Meaning that what happened was, I don't know, 60 or 70 suspensions back, he lost his driver's license. So, it was difficult for him to get a car or insurance. So, somewhere along the line, people who are in that situation, and I'm speculating here, but this is a good guess, a lot of people in that situation go, "Maybe if I had a motorcycle, it'll become less obvious if I have a motorcycle cuz they're easier to tuck into corners in parking lots. Uh you know, you be very careful where you drive it. The plates are smaller. Maybe you can get away with it. " And I've actually heard of people who lost their driver's license, instead of just getting a junker car to drive, get a motorcycle or a scooter or a lawn tractor. Um But, the point is that he was on the motorcycle. They went to pull him over. He didn't want to pull over, apparently because of his lack of a driver's license, registration, proof of insurance. And um as you might guess a record like that I'm not sure many insurance companies are jumping on that saying, "Boy, we'd like to insure him. " Now, there are some states where if you can't find insurance, you can get insurance from some kind of pool. Uh but the pool is expensive. And uh it'll it'll cost you. So, here we go. The guy was again um arrested for DUI. Uh he's on a motorcycle. No plates, no insurance, no driver's license. 72 additional suspensions and revocations. Uh and prior DWIs, although those might have been a few years ago. And so, we don't know what's going to happen with him, but yeah, ugly situation because it involved several police departments. And uh he ran his motorcycle into a police car. It's Like that's the the chef's kiss, as they say, the cherry on top of the story. So, it's a wild one. So, David, thanks for sending that. I don't know if we'll hear a follow-up on this. I hope we do cuz that might be the most suspensions and revocations I've seen for one person at 72. But I assure you somebody out there has got that beat. So, that's from WNYT, uh where the police say a motorcyclist with 72 license suspensions drove drunk and hit a patrol car. And David sent that. Thank you very much. Questions or comments, put them below. Let's talk to you later. Bye-bye. — Thank you for watching Latos Law. — Sunset is the opening music of the night.