Now, let's get one thing straight from the outset: I am against drunk driving, even if it's a friend who is doing it. I have been a supporter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving since it was founded in 1980. I cheered the judge who threw the book at a friend for driving drunk with her child in the car. And I am as outraged as the next person when a serial drunk driver ends the life of yet another innocent victim But I am also against this: It's a brutally cold winter night. Two boys leave a party, one drunk, the other, the designated driver, perfectly sober. With his friend passed out in the back seat, the driver pulls into a convenience store and goes inside to buy cigarettes, leaving his car running so his pal doesn't freeze. A cop who happens to be inside the store follows the driver back to the car. Because the keys were left in the car, the kid in the back, a shining example of how we wish our own stupid kids would act under such circumstances, gets arrested. Another true story: A woman who lives in Hudson has a party at her house. After the guests leave, one calls to say that, earlier that day, she had left an expensive camera in the hostess's car, which is parked on the street. Because the car is locked, the woman grabs her keys and goes outside to retrieve the camera. A vindictive neighbor calls the police, who arrest the woman for being drunk while in the vicinity of a car she has no intention of driving, as she is already at home and on her way to bed. Here's another one: A woman is driving through Philmont. A cop pulls her over and asks where she's headed, and if she's had anything to drink. She tells him she's going to Local 111 for dinner and, no, she hasn't had any alcohol that day. After dinner, as she pulls out of the parking lot, the same cop pulls her over. Now, of course, she's had some wine, so she must submit to the drunk driving test. Crime prevention or harassment? Bored yet? Three people leave The Old Mill in South Egremont after dinner and get into their car. A cop car, waiting in the parking lot, tails them, driving inches from their rear bumper for many nerve-wracking miles, until they cross the New York State line. Perhaps because he's had a vodka or two, the driver maintains his poise, taking care to drive the speed limit, to not cross the center line—nothing to give the cop an excuse to pull him over. Had the driver become flustered and pulled over to let the cop pass, the cop would have been justified in stopping and asking, "Is there a problem, sir? No? Good, have you been drinking?" . Similar situation, different result: A man leaves the Hamilton Inn in Millerton, where he has shared a bottle of wine over dinner with a friend. Driving home to Spencertown on Route 22, he notices that the car behind him is too close, so he speeds up to put some distance between them. The car behind him speeds up, too. So the man speeds up a little more. Once he's going over 70, the flashing lights go on in the car behind, and the man realizes he's been followed by a cop. He is arrested for drunk driving. The cop asks, "You hadn't done anything wrong, why did you speed up?" Probable cause or entrapment? My personal favorite: A young woman from the city, in Columbia County temporarily, as part of a film crew. is driving her brand new car. It's dark, and she is driving from the supermarket to the house she recently rented on a dirt road in Malden Bridge. She notices a car following her very closely. Frightened, she decides to bypass by her own road and head blindly north, in the hope of encountering bright lights and human activity. No such luck. The car continues to tail her, seemingly inches from her bumper, until just before the county line, the cop who has been dogging her switches on his flashing lights. She pulls over. He asks her if she's been drinking. She says, "No. Why were you driving so close behind me?" He says, "I was trying to see if your temporary plates were still good." (They were.) Then he asks, "Why were you driving so erratically?" Let me answer this one: Because, you insensitive boob, she is a defenseless young woman being menaced by an invisible stranger on a lonely country road in a strange place in the dark of night. She's scared to death! Somebody in this scenario deserves rebuke, maybe even incarceration, and it's not the girl. Why is it that even so noble a goal as getting drunk drivers off the road gets weird once it becomes a nexis of political grandstanding and police empowerment. I first took interest in the subject when friends, a married couple, were both arrested for Driving While Intoxicated. $13,000 and two reduced sentences later, their experience exposes an underbelly of excess and abuse among the powers that be. There's more: the excessively harsh treatment of those whose guilt is still in question, while awaiting lab results; the cruel-and-unusual impound fees for the cars detainees have been forced to abandon; the cozy relationship between certain garage owners and city hall; the reckless empowerment of the police by politicians who make drunk-driving their big re-election cause. And how all this impacts business in restaurants and the general quality of country life. But these are topics for another day.
