A man was recently arrested following a car accident in nearby Sandy, Oregon. According to police, the 32-year-old man was driving near the intersection of Hood Street and Beers Avenue when he hit a 41-year-old pedestrian. Following the accident, the police say the man continued to drive away.
Reports say that the pedestrian was transported to a local hospital after the accident but later died. Police claim that the 32-year-old driver did return on the scene of the accident on foot a short time after it occurred. Police claim that the man turned himself in. At the time, the man's blood alcohol content level was at .14 percent. He was therefore arrested on suspicion of drunk driving and taken to Clackamas County Jail.
The man was later charged with third-degree assault and DUII. He is being held on $32,000 bail.
Drunk driving charges are always serious in Oregon. They can result in the loss of a person's driver's license, jail time, fines, alcohol education classes and embarrassment. However, these penalties increase when a person causes an accident while under the influence. Penalties can increase further if the person causes harm to another person -- especially if the other person dies.
In these cases, people will often face felony DUI charges. These charges require an aggressive defense. Even in cases where another person is harmed, police still need to be able to prove that the driver was under the influence at the time of the accident. This requires blood alcohol testing -- frequently a blood or breath test. In either of these cases, the result of these tests can be inaccurate.
Those facing DUI or DUII charges should challenge the results of police testing to make sure they are getting fair criminal proceedings. If the tests were not conducted properly the results may be challenge. This could result in reduced or dropped charges.
Source: The Oregonian, "Sandy man, 41, dies after being struck by car; driver jailed on DUII charge," Edwin Rios, Jan. 18, 2014
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