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**Unregistered** · 05-24-2007, 06:13 PM

Re: Public Intoxication in the passenger seat of a car going home

Make sure you get legal counsel (or at least the public defender) to try to keep this off your record eventually--jail time is not likely if your record is clear now. But having that arrest and/or a conviction on your record could make job-hunting etc. more difficult. Often this could be negotiated down to some kind of court supervision or even be dismissed etc. If it eventually appears it cannot be negotiated down, or you need to discuss this in more detail with senior counsel to review options etc., please let us know...

**Unregistered** · 10-15-2008, 07:52 PM

Re: Public Intoxication in the passenger seat of a car going home

In Texas, Private cars in a public place constitute a public place for public intoxication as many jurisdictions have held.

**tswift** · 10-16-2008, 08:08 AM

Re: Public Intoxication in the passenger seat of a car going home

Originally posted by Unregistered

Hello, my name is Gabriel and I live in Texas. Last month some friends and I went out and I had drank so i decided to leave my car at the reteraunt and catch a ride with my friend who also had been drinking but seemed to be ok to drive. On our way home we were pulled over for rolling through a stop sign while getting onto the freeway. The officer asked where we were coming from and I had stated that I had indeed been drinking(did not say how much) and that I did not want to get behind the wheel and so my friend is taking me home. The driver was asked to get out and perform a series of field tests. When I saw he was doing these tests I yelled to my friend at that time "not to do the tests and to get a lawyer before he do anything else". The officer told me to shut up and continued with what eventually led to the arrest of the driver. The officer then came to my side of the car and asked me to step out and put my hands behind my back. The officer said i was being arrested for Public Intoxication. I told the cop I was not IN PUBLIC.... and that I was sitting in the privacy of my friends vehicle which is not deemed a public place. The officer then walked me back to the police vehicle and detained me. The officer did not perform ANY tests at all to determine I was drunk. In fact, in the police report the officer stated that i was slumped over in my seat and incoherent! The report continued to say that I was too intoxicated to perform any tests and that for my own safety they just arrested me. I had pre trial today and told the judge that 1, i was not drunk, and 2 i did not believe that being being in a car driving home is a public place. To my understanding, Texas law states that one commits the act of public intoxication(1) "... if the person appears in a public place while intoxicated to the degree that the person may endanger the person or another." (1)A "public place" is a "...place to which the public or a substantial group of the public has access and includes but is not limited to streets, highways, schools, hospitals, apt houses, office build, transport facilities, and shops"(2)
Does the status of the roadway being public extand to the vehicle traveling on that road?
Please help? I dont want to have this on my record and I feel my rights were violated.

I hate to tell you this but the Officer is correct.

I believe this charge is just a Minor Misdemeanor in Texas... Is this correct?

I think you made your mistake when you shouted to your buddy not to take the sobriety test. Officers may have, just as I would have, called someone to pick you up instead of writing you a ticket.

To answer your question, if your in your car (driver or passenger) driving/riding on a street or highway, then yes, you are in the "public".

**Unregistered** · 01-15-2010, 07:07 AM

Re: Public Intoxication in the passenger seat of a car going home

So according to you, a person could be arrested for public intoxication while riding home from a bar in a cab... That's not only ridiculous, it's encouraging people (drunk people aren't exactly rational) to drive themselves home...

**Guest** · 01-15-2010, 04:26 PM

Re: Public Intoxication in the passenger seat of a car going home

A lawsuit against the police department was just filed based on very similar facts here in Texas.

Driver is pulled over and passenger (who is drunk, she called driver to come get her) is accused of public drunkenness.

There is an added twist as this passenger refused to get out of the car and was tasered 20 times, but her original complaint is she wasn't drunk in public.

**sandra** · 01-15-2010, 06:07 PM

JOHN ANTWON PETE V. THE STATE OF TEXAS

In The Court of Appeals For The First District of Texas

NO. 01-09-00114-CR

JOHN ANTWON PETE, Appellant

V.

THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee

On Appeal from the 337th District Court
Harris County, Texas
Trial Court Cause No. 1193081

Background
On February 22, 2008 around 1:00 a.m., Officer M. Daniel was patrolling the Bristol apartment complex in a high crime area of South Houston when he saw a lone vehicle sitting in the parking lot. He observed two people inside the car either shaking hands or exchanging an object. He turned into the lot to investigate, followed by Officer J. Sanchez who was also patrolling the area. Officer Daniel and Officer Sanchez approached the car to make sure everything was all right. Officer Daniel spoke to Pete, who was in the passenger seat of the vehicle. Pete had bloodshot eyes, enlarged pupils, appeared disoriented, and did not respond to Officer Daniel’s questions.
Based on Pete’s appearance and demeanor, Officer Daniel decided to arrest Pete for public intoxication. As Pete exited the car, he kept his hand in his pocket and refused to remove it. Pete resisted Officer Daniel’s attempts to handcuff him, but Officer B. Ramirez arrived at the scene to help take Pete into custody. Officer Daniel then performed a search of Pete incident to the arrest and found a matchbox containing three grams of crack cocaine inside Pete’s right front pocket.
Officer Daniel and Officer Sanchez testified at Pete’s trial regarding the incident. Both officers testified that Pete was arrested in a public place as required by the public intoxication statute.[2] See TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. § 49.02(a) (Vernon Supp. 2008). During cross-examination, defense counsel asked Officer Sanchez hypothetical questions that Pete claims create a factual issue as to whether the inside of the car is a public place. First, counsel asked if the public would have access to his car if it was parked in a Target parking lot. In response, Officer Sanchez testified that the public would not have access to his car. Second, defense counsel presented a situation in which one person acts as a designated driver for an intoxicated person and stops at a Wal-Mart on the way home. Counsel then asked if the purpose of having a designated driver is defeated if this car is considered a public place. Officer Sanchez replied, “I guess so.” At the close of evidence, defense counsel moved to suppress any controlled substance seized incident to Pete’s arrest for public intoxication on the theory that the arrest was improper because the car was not a public place. Defense counsel then requested an article 38.23(a) jury question asking that the jury find whether the interior of the vehicle was a public place. See TEX. CRIM. PROC. CODE ANN. art. 38.23(a) (Vernon 2005). The trial court denied the request. The proposed jury issue stated:
A person commits an offense if the person appears in a public place while intoxicated to the degree that the person may endanger the person or another, then you must determine under the facts of this case if the interior of the vehicle in which the defendant was a passenger was a public place as defined as follows: Public place means anyplace to which the public or a substantial group of the public has access and includes but is not limited to streets, highways, and the common areas of schools, hospitals, apartment houses, office buildings, transport facilities, and shops.

If you find from the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt or you have a reasonable doubt thereof that the interior of the vehicle in which the defendant was a passenger was not a public place as defined above, then you will disregard any evidence obtained as a result of the defendant’s arrest for public intoxication.

The trial court denied the requested question, holding that the defense had not raised a fact issue as to whether the interior of the car was a public place.

Source:

http://www.1stcoa.courts.state.tx.us/opinions/htmlopinion.asp?OpinionId=87069

**Forum Crew** · 01-15-2010, 06:14 PM

Re: Public Intoxication in the passenger seat of a car going home

TEXAS PENAL CODE

TITLE 10. OFFENSES AGAINST PUBLIC HEALTH, SAFETY, AND MORALS

CHAPTER 49. INTOXICATION AND ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE OFFENSES

PENAL CODE** CHAPTER 49. INTOXICATION AND ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE OFFENSES

Sec. 49.031. POSSESSION OF ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE IN MOTOR VEHICLE. (a) In this section:
(1) "Open container" means a bottle, can, or other receptacle that contains any amount of alcoholic beverage and that is open, that has been opened, that has a broken seal, or the contents of which are partially removed.
(2) "Passenger area of a motor vehicle" means the area of a motor vehicle designed for the seating of the operator and passengers of the vehicle. The term does not include:
(A) a glove compartment or similar storage container that is locked;
(B) the trunk of a vehicle; or
(C) the area behind the last upright seat of the vehicle, if the vehicle does not have a trunk.
(3) "Public highway" means the entire width between and immediately adjacent to the boundary lines of any public road, street, highway, interstate, or other publicly maintained way if any part is open for public use for the purpose of motor vehicle travel. The term includes the right-of-way of a public highway.
(b) A person commits an offense if the person knowingly possesses an open container in a passenger area of a motor vehicle that is located on a public highway, regardless of whether the vehicle is being operated or is stopped or parked. Possession by a person of one or more open containers in a single criminal episode is a single offense.
(c) It is an exception to the application of Subsection (b) that at the time of the offense the defendant was a passenger in:
(1) the passenger area of a motor vehicle designed, maintained, or used primarily for the transportation of persons for compensation, including a bus, taxicab, or limousine; or
(2) the living quarters of a motorized house coach or motorized house trailer, including a self-contained camper, a motor home, or a recreational vehicle.
(d) An offense under this section is a Class C misdemeanor.
(e) A peace officer charging a person with an offense under this section, instead of taking the person before a magistrate, shall issue to the person a written citation and notice to appear that contains the time and place the person must appear before a magistrate, the name and address of the person charged, and the offense charged. If the person makes a written promise to appear before the magistrate by signing in duplicate the citation and notice to appear issued by the officer, the officer shall release the person.

Added by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 969, Sec. 2, eff. Sept. 1, 2001.

**rob76541** · 07-23-2010, 11:27 AM

Re: Public Intoxication in the passenger seat of a car going home

i also was arrested for the same thing in the state of texas i think it is just a really really messed of judical system cause even your constational rights say you are innocent till proven guilty but yet you are arrested till proven innocent

**Unregistered** · 08-08-2010, 06:57 PM

Re: Public Intoxication in the passenger seat of a car going home

any law enforcement agency can hold you for 72 hours without any reason. and yes if your in the view of public you are PI. no if and or buts about it. but if you are in your place of residence and are intoxicated and an officer invites you out of your residence and you informed the officer you have bin drinking you can not get arrested for PI. even tho you are in public view. a law enforcement officer invited you into public knowing you were intoxicated.

**Unregistered** · 05-23-2011, 01:32 AM

Re: Public Intoxication in the passenger seat of a car going home

I'm a cop in Texas. As a quick explanation: A vehicle is both public and private. If a person can look inside the vehicle from the outside and see something in "plain view" then it can be considered public. If someone has to "pry" into something to see the item then it is considered private. In your case once the driver was arrested for DWI the vehicle is now going to be impounded since there was not another driver readily available to drive it from the scene (your own admission that you were not in the condition to drive). Therefore, once the vehicle is impounded you are left standing on the side of the roadway in a public place. And sorry, the officer cannot wait for a ride to come pick you up. Most people say there ride is "only ten" minutes away and thirty minutes later we're still on the side of the road waiting. Now the question becomes what about the arrested suspect handcuffed in the back seat that is going to complain that he was handcuffed and forced to sit in the back seat waiting for your ride to pick you up and his wrists hurt and now he wants to sue. Or you get left on the side of the road and something happens to you (struck by a vehicle, assaulted, robbed, lost etc...) and once again the officer is getting sued.

If the driver would not have been arrested you would not have been in a public place and you would not have been arrested.

**Casjnoha** · 05-23-2011, 05:22 PM

Re: Public Intoxication in the passenger seat of a car going home

Agreed!!!! It's unfortunate but most states will take the word of the officer and the report in most incidents like this. Even worse for the friend driving home, i know in Missouri the laws can be quite stiff including

Up to six months in jail
Up to $500 in fines
30-day full suspension of your license

Source: Missouri criminal lawyer

**Unregistered** · 06-12-2011, 05:46 PM

Re: Public Intoxication in the passenger seat of a car going home

that happened to me yesterday. i was drunk and they did the pen and eye test on me. they took my girldriend to jail for a warrent from 2007 when she has already been to jail and is on probation just this year for something totally different. they took me in for mic and mip. the judge came to the holding cell and told me i wasnt alloud to sit it out. he said i HAD to p.r. bond. so i was in the process later and when i said something about staying the police threatened to make other inmates harm me. so i get out walk doun the road, poop, and find a lighter for my smokes because they stole mine. got home, and found out they impounded my moms car when they agreed not to. they said as soon as we get to jail we can call her to go get it. then they said i couldnt when i did get there and lied and said they didnt know why we didnt call. i found out the window in the vehicle were broken and and two different cops were saying they was the ond to move the car when nobody was around. i kept my eye on one that said she did it b4 she took me to jail. she clearly did not move it. the hundreds of dollars was intact and not hidden. i think theres something up if it wasnt the cops they wouldnt have broke the windows, unlocked all the doors, and decided not to take the money.....or the visible carton of ciggarettes. if it was vandalizers, that stuff would be gone. because someone broke the windows unlocked the doors and got inside. they did not just break windows and leave. the cops are lying and it sucks. them darn victoria county piggies anybody have something to say to help me out here???

**new jersey dwi** · 08-20-2011, 10:47 PM

Re: Public Intoxication in the passenger seat of a car going home

For your case, it seems that the officer have not taken into consideration your rights. Better to get legal help from an Attorney.

**Unregistered** · 12-31-2013, 01:45 AM

Re: Public Intoxication in the passenger seat of a car going home

Public intoxication means you are intoxicated and in view of any member of the public. You can be arrested in your back yard for public intoxication.