Articles Posted in Articles of Interest

Whether it’s cold medicine, cough syrup, a legal prescription drug or alcohol, if you ingest too much and drive a vehicle, you can be charged with driving under the influence.

“Even if someone is taking prescription drugs legally, they can be charged with DUI,” said Sgt. Kim Montes, spokeswoman for the Florida Highway Patrol district that includes Volusia County. “If a trooper evaluates someone, either on a traffic stop or at a crash scene, and determines they are impaired from alcohol, illegal or legal drugs, or another substance, they can be arrested.”

The FHP recently charged a man with DUI manslaughter in an Orlando case because they believe he had inhaled computer cleaner, Montes said.

NASHVILLE — Drivers who get behind the wheel after having too much to drink, and individuals who can’t prove they’re in the country legally, face tougher consequences in Tennessee with the start of the new year.

Up until midnight Saturday, drivers could get a second DUI conviction and still avoid having a device attached to their car that requires them to prove they’re sober before the vehicle will start.

But under a new law, first-time offenders convicted of having a blood alcohol level of at least 0.15 will be required to have ignition interlock devices installed on their vehicles.

A 51-year-old Pennsylvania woman was charged with DUI and assorted other traffic offenses on Wednesday, Harrington police said.

Tara S. Jackson, of Devon, was charged with DUI, resisting arrest, driving without a license and driving the wrong way on a one-way street, said agency spokesman Sgt. Earl Brode.

Officers on patrol at about 11 p.m. spotted a car that appeared to be stuck on the snow on U.S. 13 near the railroad tracks.

Texas prides itself on being a “zero tolerance” state for young drinkers: Even a whiff of alcohol detected on anyone under 21 can result in a ticket. Minors can be cited for even being near a beer.

But reality isn’t Texas tough. Whether it is a police officer escorting a young drinker home or a prosecutor opting for lesser charges or dismissing the complaint altogether, young people who drink and drive often get a break.

According to juvenile court records, young drunken drivers aren’t much of a problem in Dallas County. Only 11 juveniles – under age 17 – were prosecuted for DWI from 1999 to 2009. That’s because, as in many jurisdictions, the majority of kids who drink and drive in Dallas end up with tickets – for lesser, Class C misdemeanors such as “minor DUI,” “minor in consumption” and “minor in possession” – which lead to fines, community service and license suspensions.

BOSTON — A West Yarmouth woman has been arrested and charged with drunken driving after police said she drove her car into a house Monday night.

Ashley D. Melville, 26, is accused of crashing into a house at 75 Cottage Road in West Yarmouth at about 11:30 p.m. Monday. The car, a Lincoln sedan, crashed into a room where one of the home’s residents was sitting, police said.

Melville was treated at Cape Cod Hospital for non-life-threatening injuries and released.

Casey Anthony’s legal team wants her reaction to the discovery of her daughter’s remains to be kept out of court.

A motion filed late Wednesday requests that surveillance video taken of Anthony at the jail on the day her daughter’s remains were discovered not be allowed in court.

The video, which was blocked from public release by an earlier judge, reportedly shows Anthony’s reaction to news reports of the discovery of her missing toddler’s skeletal remains.

When he gets out of prison, Brandon Palladino stands to inherit more than $200,000 from the mother-in-law he was convicted of killing. Her family is outraged.

Palladino, 24, was convicted in the December 2008 death of Dianne Edwards, the mother of his wife, Deanna. He admitted killing Edwards, 59, when she found him trying to steal jewelry from her home on New York’s Long Island, the New York Post reports.

Edwards left her estate to her daughter, who died in February, according to the Post.

An NYPD cop on his way home from work was killed Monday when his car was rammed by a boozed-up Brooklyn man driving the wrong way, authorities said.

Officer Andre Menzies – a father of five – was driving east on the Northern State Parkway in Dix Hills, L.I., about 12:05 a.m. when he was hit head-on by Michael Bowen’s Ford van.

Bowen, 50, of Brownsville, had a blood-alcohol level of 0.25 – more than three times the legal limit, authorities said. He suffered only minor injuries.

BERKELEY HEIGHTS, N.J. (CBS 2/1010 WINS) — A New Jersey teacher is under arrest, accused of teaching students some scandalous and illegal behavior – and doing it all out of his own home.

There was a visible police presence at Governor Livingston High School in Berkeley Heights on Friday as new questions and concerns came from both students and parents.

The topic of those questions was science teacher Frank Melchiorre, now suspended with pay for allegedly engaging in illegal extracurricular activities in his own apartment – with students.