March 22, 2005

The Booze and Cruise, You’ll Lose program continued their tour of the Ohio Valley with a visit at Linsly. More than 120 juniors and seniors attended the program and received some valuable information from Wheeling Nailer Steve Crampton, attorney Christopher Turak from the personal injury law firm of Gold, Khourey and Turak, and Corporal J.A. Laing of the West Virginia State Police.

Turak, also the program’s coordinator, asked the students various questions concerning the legal and financial consequences of driving under the influence. Those who participated in the discussion were awarded a variety of prizes. WTOV TV 9 Meterologist, Jeff Oechslein, went out into the crowd and selected volunteers to answer the questions.

Turak pointed out, “Many young adults, and older adults for that matter, don’t realize that you can be arrested for DUI without actually consuming an alcoholic beverage.” He said, “Besides the obvious use of drugs such as marijuana, anyone who takes a prescription medication, then decides to drive, runs the risk of being arrested for driving under the influence.” Turak emphasized, “There is no difference between a D.U.I. and a D.W.I.. As long as your ability to drive a motor vehicle is impaired, you can be arrested for D.U.I. or D.W.I., regardless of your B.A.C. level.”

Corporal J.A. Laing explained that many D.U.I. arrests don’t start out as D.U.I. arrests, but as minor traffic violations. “Many times we’ll pull someone over because they have a tail light out, then we notice the smell of alcohol and that’s when our attention shifts to a possible D.U.I. arrest”, says Laing. Laing also allowed that the B.A.C. level is not the most important part of a D.U.I.. “As Chris (Turak) pointed out, you don’t have to be 0.08 to be impaired. 0.08 is a presumption of impairment, and because we don’t have a test to monitor drug use, we have other tests we can perform that might indicate impairment, such as field sobriety tests.”

Corporal Laing then showed the students first-hand what an actual D.U.I. stop entailed. With the use of “Fatal Vision Goggles”, student Ross Tomer simulated .08 intoxication and was taken through a number of field sobriety tests. After failing numerous tests, including the heal-to-toe test, Laing placed Tomer under “arrest” and handcuffed him.

Wheeling Nailer captiain, Steve Crampton, explained to the students that drinking and driving can ruin your dreams and your reputation. “I’ve known players and friends that have had their careers ended because of a D.U.I.,” say Crampton. “It’s not worth it, it stays with you, and follows you wherever you go. Hockey is my livelihood, if I were to get a D.U.I., teams would be reluctant to sign me and it would make it difficult for me to continue to play a sport that I love.”

In 1992, Gold, Khourey & Turak created the Booze and Cruise, You’ll Lose program in an effort to educate the community about the legal, personal, and financial consequences of driving under the influence. Since 1978, the law firm has been committed to representing victims of alcohol-related accidents.