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Politics : Stockman Scott's Political Debate Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Crimson Ghost who wrote (69140)	12/18/2004 10:05:40 AM
From: redfish	Respond to of 89467

Re overzealous prosecutors: The danger from wheelchairs? A Times Editorial Published December 18, 2004 Criminal law takes aim at people who drive while drunk because their cars can become lethal weapons. So what conceivable public safety interest is served by a Hernando state attorney's prosecution of a drunk 45-year-old woman in a wheelchair? The DUI laws in Florida are explicit. The offender must be operating a road vehicle, which is defined as "every device, in, upon, or by which any person or property is or may be transported or drawn upon a highway." Even Mothers Against Drunk Driving, a strident defender of the laws, defines its own interest as those "operating or being in actual physical control of any motor vehicle, boat, aircraft, rail or personal recreational motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol or other drugs." How possibly does a wheelchair fit that definition? What Cynthia Christensen did last year was, at most, a danger to herself. She and friends were cooking out and drinking beer at her Spring Hill home while watching a Tampa Bay Buccaneers game. Her motorized wheelchair got stuck in sand at the edge of her yard and then lurched over the curb into the road as a Ford minivan passed. She sustained minor injuries. No one disputes that Christensen had been drinking, but her attorney argues for some basic common sense. Wheelchairs, he says, are legs for those who use them. Even Pinellas County Judge Karl Grube, an expert on DUI laws, acknowledges the point. "That is an interesting argument that may well have some merit," Grube told the Times. "If a wheelchair is the extension of one's legs, and if the law recognizes that a person in a wheelchair is a pedestrian and vehicles should yield to them, then they can make the argument." Maybe Hernando Judge Peyton Hyslop will reach the same conclusion, but that doesn't excuse the prosecution. Wheelchairs are not a public menace. sptimes.com