How a DWAI Can Affect Certain Areas of Your Life
If you have been arrested for the crime of Driving While Ability Impaired, or DWAI, you’re going to have a long road ahead of you, and no doubt many questions. DWAI is a serious offense and it’s going to affect a number of different areas of your life, including your employment. This is a real concern and it’s best if you retain experienced DWAI attorneys to help defend you.
Consequences of a DWAI on Your Employment
A DWAI conviction on your record can make it much more difficult to find employment. If you depend on driving as part of your job and your license is revoked or suspended as a result of a DWAI conviction, then you are bound to have even more issues and could end up losing your job. If you find yourself needing to take time off for court-mandated counseling and court appearances, it’s not going to look good to your employer.
If your job requires you to have a commercial drivers’ license, a DWI conviction could be cause for immediate revocation of your CDL, which would then most likely result in your loss of employment. Some employers also have rules outlined in their employee handbooks that state that conviction of certain crimes is cause for the immediate termination of employment.
Financial Ramifications
You may also find yourself suffering additional ramifications on the financial side of things. For example, your insurance rates will most likely go up. In some cases, certain insurance companies outright refuse to insure drivers who have a DWAI on their record. So even if you don’t lose your driver’s license or job after a DWAI conviction, you may find yourself having a difficult time paying the premiums for your insurance.
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(212) 300-5196Probable Cause
If you’ve been charged with a DWAI, it is very important that you contact an experienced DWAI attorney. Your attorney will work with you to review the circumstances that were surrounding your arrest to determine what to expect during the defense process. One of the areas that your defense attorney will consider is the area of probable cause.
Probable cause is the legal reason that the police officer had to pull you over to begin with. A police officer cannot just pull you over based on a suspicion that you’re drunk, he has to see you commit another infraction in order to pull you off the road to further investigate.
For example, a police officer can see you swerving in and out of your lanes and pull you over for that reason, as he’ll most likely already be suspicious of your alleged intoxication. From there, he will determine that you have, in fact, been driving while under the influence.
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Another type of probable cause is if you’re speeding. Now, in this instance, the officer may not be suspicious that your driving while under the influence, but once he pulls you over for speeding, he’ll soon discover there’s more to the story.
After attending a friend's birthday dinner where you had two glasses of wine, you were pulled over at a checkpoint on the Taconic Parkway. The officer noted your bloodshot eyes and the smell of alcohol, administered a breathalyzer that registered a 0.06 BAC, and charged you under VTL 1192.1 for Driving While Ability Impaired.
My BAC was under the 0.08 legal limit, so how can I still be charged with a crime?
Under New York Vehicle and Traffic Law Section 1192.1, you can be charged with DWAI even with a BAC below 0.08 — the statute only requires that your ability to operate a vehicle was impaired to any extent by alcohol. While DWAI is classified as a traffic infraction rather than a misdemeanor for a first offense, it still carries penalties including up to 15 days in jail, a fine of $300 to $500, and a 90-day license suspension. An experienced attorney can challenge the officer's observations, the calibration of the breathalyzer, and whether proper checkpoint procedures were followed. Given the impact a DWAI conviction can have on your employment, insurance rates, and driving record, it is critical to mount an aggressive defense rather than assume the lower BAC reading will work in your favor.
This is general information only. Contact us for advice specific to your situation.
If you were pulled over and the driver did not have probable cause to do so, that is a defense that your attorneys will use in order to defend your charge.
The best thing you can do if you’ve been charged with DWAI is to contact an experienced attorney as soon as you can. Your attorney will work hard to get you the best results possible, including saving your drivers license and possibly your job. Reach out to an experienced team today for more information.
