Agree.
But you did: You said, "That does not negate the fact that they were both guilty of DUI, for putting the car in the road in the first place." That's about 1-4 of a page up from here. The act of putting the car in the road in the 1st place was performed by the 1 woman who was driving up until the engine died.
And that is where we disagree. You already admit that the car needed to be pushed off the road for safety. How else do you do it? OK, you can maybe roll down the window and put your arm thru it and steer the car, but I imagine you'd like to still get her for DWI for doing the already admittedly-necessary thing of getting the car off the road.
Look, they did it the only way they could have done it. Since they were taking turns, I have to conclude they had to push it some significant distance. Maybe there was no shoulder to the road where it died, and they had to go 50 - 100 yards to access the parking lot. People, even those who are not drunk, get tired doing that sort of thing. So, one pushes, one steers, then they switch.
But you want to punish them both for performing the now admittedly necessary act of removing the car from the road the only way that it was possible - pushing - steering - switching. Damned if you do, damned if you don't, huh?
They could maybe have been sued big-time for leaving the car in the road, and maybe even charged with negligent homicide for leaving the car in the road, and it was the right thing to do to get the car off the road... so the did the right thing.
There's no way someone should be charged for doing the right thing.
Dave Head
