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Underage Possession of Alcohol - Wrongfully Ticketed

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AMorse06

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? Virginia

I was recently visiting a friend's school in Virginia for the weekend. My friends and I went out on Saturday night to listen to some live music which was being played on campus. While we were listening to the band, we noticed some students behind us throwing empty beer bottles at a fence and at the ground. Some other students from the school also saw the beer bottles being thrown, and fearing that they would be fined, sent someone to get some police officers from up the road. As the police approached, my friends and I remained where we had been standing. The students who had been throwing bottles, however, ran away. As we turned back to the music, one of the officers walked over to us and asked "Where are your buddies running off too?" Surprised at the question, my friends and I explained that the people running away from us were not our buddies. The officer responded "Sure, and I hang around people I don't know all the time also." After explaining briefly to another officer the appearance of the students who had been throwing the bottles, the officer turned back to our group and said "I'm too fat and lazy to run after your buddies, so if you can't tell us where they went, then I'm going to need to see some identification." We were all puzzled as to why we were being asked to show our I.D's, and hesitated. He then exclaimed, "I said IDENTIFICACION, don't you speak English?" At this point we were getting very frustrated, but we complied without fighting back. As he flipped through our I.D's, he realized that we were all under 21 (there were five of us, four males, and one female). He went from person to person asking how much we had had to drink that night, starting with me. I replied that I had not had any alcohol, and he continued around the circle, asking my friends. Two of them responded "four or five beers", one responded "too much", and the female responded "none." The officer exclaimed "oh, you must be the designated driver then?" and gave the female her I.D., letting her walk without a ticket. He then proceeded to ticket all of us for underage possession of alcohol.

I know from an adult perspective, my story doesn't sound reasonable, and I fully understand this. I, however, can speak for myself in 100% honesty-- I did not deserve a ticket. I am no fool, and I have done my homework on the matter; I realize that the Virginia laws regarding underage possession have recently been changed. Any persons under the age of 21 can be ticketed if the officer "smells alcohol, observes bloodshot eyes, deems the person to be showing signs of disorientation" and more. My main question is this: is it even worth trying to hire an attorney to bring to court? Do I have any chance of being found innocent with such a load of circumstancial..."evidence"...against me? I have the full support of my family in this matter, and I am truly willing to do what I must to guarantee that the outcome is as I deserve.

If more information is necessary:

1) It was "Greek Week" at my friend's college, so of course there was much drinking going on. I, however, do not support the notion of "guilty by association," though I fear many would when considering this case.

2) There was neither a sobriety check nor a breathalyzer test performed on myself or any of my friends. Also, we had no alcohol. As I stated above, I realize how easy it is to ticket a minor with such circumstancial evidence to consider.

3) The statements "I'm too fat and lazy to run after your buddies" and "I said IDENTIFICACION, don't you speak English?" truly bothered me. I am a hefty individual, as were the rest of my friends. I am also half Brazilian, so the second statement seemed to have a racially derogatory ring too it. Would this make any difference?

4) The only female with us was a very attractive blonde friend of mine from high school. The fact that she was allowed to leave while we were all ticketed puzzled me. Could she perhaps serve as a witness in court if I were to hire an attorney?

5) The officer filled out my ticket incorrectly. While it should have been "00:57 AM" on Sunday, April 15, the officer recorded the time as "00:57 PM" on Sunday, April 15. He also recorded my height as 5'7 when I was clearly the tallest in our group and none of my friends were recorded as under 6'2 (I know this probably wouldn't mean anything).

6) I have a witness to fully reinforce every last word of my account of what happened (the female who was not ticketed).

So, what are my chances?

Thank you,
AMorse
 
Last edited:


AlanShore

Member
What is the name of your state? Virginia

I was recently visiting a friend's school in Virginia for the weekend. My friends and I went out on Saturday night to listen to some live music which was being played on campus. While we were listening to the band, we noticed some students behind us throwing empty beer bottles at a fence and at the ground. Some other students from the school also saw the beer bottles being thrown, and fearing that they would be fined, sent someone to get some police officers from up the road. As the police approached, my friends and I remained where we had been standing. The students who had been throwing bottles, however, ran away. As we turned back to the music, one of the officers walked over to us and asked "Where are your buddies running off too?" Surprised at the question, my friends and I explained that the people running away from us were not our buddies. The officer responded "Sure, and I hang around people I don't know all the time also." After explaining briefly to another officer the appearance of the students who had been throwing the bottles, the officer turned back to our group and said "I'm too fat and lazy to run after your buddies, so if you can't tell us where they went, then I'm going to need to see some identification." We were all puzzled as to why we were being asked to show our I.D's, and hesitated. He then exclaimed, "I said IDENTIFICACION, don't you speak English?" At this point we were getting very frustrated, but we complied without fighting back. As he flipped through our I.D's, he realized that we were all under 21 (there were five of us, four males, and one female). He went from person to person asking how much we had had to drink that night, starting with me. I replied that I had not had any alcohol, and he continued around the circle, asking my friends. Two of them responded "four or five beers", one responded "too much", and the female responded "none." The officer exclaimed "oh, you must be the designated driver then?" and gave the female her I.D., letting her walk without a ticket. He then proceeded to ticket all of us for underage possession of alcohol.

I know from an adult perspective, my story doesn't sound reasonable, and I fully understand this. I, however, can speak for myself in 100% honesty-- I did not deserve a ticket. I am no fool, and I have done my homework on the matter; I realize that the Virginia laws regarding underage possession have recently been changed. Any persons under the age of 21 can be ticketed if the officer "smells alcohol, observes bloodshot eyes, deems the person to be showing signs of disorientation" and more. My main question is this: is it even worth trying to hire an attorney to bring to court? Do I have any chance of being found innocent with such a load of circumstancial..."evidence"...against me? I have the full support of my family in this matter, and I am truly willing to do what I must to guarantee that the outcome is as I deserve.

If more information is necessary:

1) It was "Greek Week" at my friend's college, so of course there was much drinking going on. I, however, do not support the notion of "guilty by association," though I fear many would when considering this case.

2) There was neither a sobriety check nor a breathalyzer test performed on myself or any of my friends. Also, we had to alcohol. As I stated above, I realize how easy it is to ticket a minor with such circumstancial evidence to consider.

3) The statements "I'm too fat and lazy to run after your buddies" and "I said IDENTIFICACION, don't you speak English?" truly bothered me. I am a hefty individual, as were the rest of my friends. I am also half Brazilian, so the second statement seemed to have a racially derogatory ring too it. Would this make any difference?

4) The only female with us was a very attractive blonde friend of mine from high school. The fact that she was allowed to leave while we were all ticketed puzzled me. Could she perhaps serve as a witness in court if I were to hire an attorney?

5) The officer filled out my ticket incorrectly. While it should have been "00:57 AM" on Sunday, April 15, the officer recorded the time as "00:57 PM" on Sunday, April 15. He also recorded my height as 5'7 when I was clearly the tallest in our group and none of my friends were recorded as under 6'2 (I know this probably wouldn't mean anything).

6) I have a witness to fully reinforce every last word of my account of what happened (the female who was not ticketed).

So, what are my chances?

Thank you,
AMorse
Very good. Hire a lawyer though.
 

AMorse06

Junior Member
Question

Also, could anyone please tell me under which Area of Law this issue would fall? I would assume I should contact an attorney specializing in Criminal Law, but I'm not sure. Any help would be very much appreciated.

Thank you,
AMorse
 
Last edited:

AlanShore

Member
Also, could anyone please tell me under which Area of Law this issue would fall? I would assume I should contact an attorney specializing in Criminal Law, but I'm not sure. Any help would be very much appreciated.

Thank you,
AMorse
Yes. Criminal Attorney would be best or one who specializes in DWIs would also be good because you could lose your license I believe.
 

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