Speeding, driving drunk, no lights, THC vapes, and a gun. What could go wrong?
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Ah, the blessing (and curse) of youth. Being young is almost a guarantee of doing silly, regrettable things from time to time. But these two West Virginia teens took things much too far. Police decided not to arrest the duo for drunk driving with a handgun in the car and instead gave them a choice. But not long after, they found the same teens right back behind the wheel of the same car.
A cop showed a little mercy to 2 West Virginia teens just to arrest one for committing the same crime twice in the same night
Police in Ripley, West Virginia, observed a “dark sedan” speeding, tailgating, and driving without functioning taillights after night fell. Any one of those things warrants a traffic stop, so the officer pulled the sedan over.
The occupants of the car, a 19-year-old and a 17-year-old, were in no state to drive. The police officer on the scene noticed empty alcoholic beverage bottles in the car, as well as vape pens containing THC, the primary intoxicating compound in cannabis.
The officer placed the 19-year-old in the back of a police cruiser. But, rather than arresting him, the officer told the teens to call someone to pick them up. Nice, right?
It didn’t last long, though. Police observed the teens driving shortly after the first exchange. In the same car, too. That’s pretty brazen.
This time, though, the police were feeling less merciful. They stopped the 19-year-old again and arrested him on suspicion of a DUI. He blew a 0.065%, 0.015% under the legal limit. But an underage driver isn’t allowed to have any blood alcohol concentration (BAC).
A gun in the car could make things worse
According to lootpress, the 19-year-old driver earned his first back-of-the-police-car experience after he lied about “the presence of a handgun in the vehicle.” Now, drunk driving is a serious crime. But doing so with a gun can make things much, much worse.
Let’s say you’re a 25-year-old driver with a concealed carry weapon (CCW) permit and you get a DUI with a gun in your car. Depending on your state of residence, you’re facing extra charges on top of your DUI related to your proximity to a deadly weapon.
In Colorado, for instance, a DUI with a gun in a car will result in a second misdemeanor charge, per Matthew A. Martin Law. But these two have something else working against them: age.
At 19, the driver is too young to own a handgun and too young to drink. While the details aren’t yet clear, his DUI arrest might lead to additional charges due to the presence of a handgun.
