Friend was drunk, crashed into a field, I'm on Probation ..

What is the name of your state? Michigan

I am currently on probation for an Operating While Visibly Impaired. My friend picked me up earlier in the night. He began to drink, & spilled alcohol on my shirt. After awhile I requested to go home, so said he was able take me home. Before we left I made a letter stating that I in fact had not been drinking & we both signed and dated it. He happened to loose control on a dirt road while taking me home. The officer had asked me if I had been drinking, I said no. He then said that he could smell it on me and I still told him I had not been drinking. He acknowledged it & did not give me a PBT. The officer then asked me to find a ride. I found a ride and he let me go home. He was unaware that I was on probation. However, I am just curious that if he had "smelled" alcohol on me (even though it was caused by a spilled drink) & then found out I was on probation after he had let me leave the scene to go home, would he be able to charge me with violation of probation? Thank you for any help ..

I think it depends on the terms of your probation. Are you not supposed to be around alcohol?

I can be around alcohol, I just cannot consume alcohol or go to any bars.

sups2blake said:

I can be around alcohol, I just cannot consume alcohol or go to any bars.

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You are not allowed to go into any bars, but you are allowed to be around alcohol? Why aren't you allowed to be in a bar, was a judge concerned about you being influenced by a pool table?

Now, lets see if I have this right. You're friend was driving, so he was the designated drinker and you were the designated splash guard. You wrote a statement to this effect, I assume, because you believed that a written reply, which denies you had anything to drink, becomes proof of this claim, after you and an intoxicated friend sign it.

None of this made any sense to me at all, until, I read the part about having to take a dirt road to get home. That cleared a few things up for me.

However, you need to know exactly what is required of you, to abide by the terms of you're probation.
Are you required to report any police contact to you're probation officer? Are you allowed to associate with people who you know frequently drink and splash alcohol before driving?

My advise, next time you're with a friend who has been drinking, you should take their keys and be the one to drive them home. This is really a better choice than writing some useless note that states the only person who consumed alcohol is the person driving. Even if you're not concerned for the safety of you and you're friend, do it for all the other people who drive the same dirt roads. They are probably not aware of you're note and wouldn't really benefit from it anyway.

I do not have to report any contact with police officers to a PO, I am on non-reporting probation. I also live at college with 3 others in my apartment who all drink on the weekends, the judge realized that about being around alcohol.

I understand that I made a horrible decision to get in the car with him. I now regret that, and realize that I should have had better judgment before getting in the car with him.

My question is however, without a PBT test taken at the scene or any alcohol tests done at a hospital, along with the officer saying I am free to leave, would I be able to be charged with a Violation of Probation? He wasn't as concerned about me because I was the passenger it seemed, but more so on my friend driving ..

sups2blake said:

I do not have to report any contact with police officers to a PO, I am on non-reporting probation. I also live at college with 3 others in my apartment who all drink on the weekends, the judge realized that about being around alcohol.

I understand that I made a horrible decision to get in the car with him. I now regret that, and realize that I should have had better judgment before getting in the car with him.

My question is however, without a PBT test taken at the scene or any alcohol tests done at a hospital, along with the officer saying I am free to leave, would I be able to be charged with a Violation of Probation? He wasn't as concerned about me because I was the passenger it seemed, but more so on my friend driving ..

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Did you're friend have a note signed and dated by each of you also? Probably not,,,, so there you go, it worked!

Seriously though, if you're on informal probation you probably don't have anything to worry about. But just for you're information, it is not usually the police officer who decides if you violated the terms of you're probation or not. When you're on formal probation, this condition would show up when the police run you through their computer. When that happens, they would then contact you're probation officer and advise them that they have you detained and why. They would ask the probation officer if there were any holds on you or if the probation officer wanted you held for whatever reason the police had you detained and were calling for. The probation officer would be the one to decide if a VOP should be filed on you. He/she could decide to have you picked up right then, or tell the officer they have no reason to hold you. They may even ask the officer to relay a message to you, like have you contact them the following day to discuss the issue. Then they could think about it and see if you contact him/her to let them know what went on with the police and why. They could then decide to file the VOP or just let it be.
If they decided to file the VOP, you would then be scheduled to appear before a judge and present you're rendition of what happened. Then it would be the judge who actually decides whether to violate you or not, as well as what price you would pay for the violation. That can be anything from a short stay in jail, added time to you're total probation period, all the way up to serving you're entire sentence behind bars.

However, you don't have to worry about any of these things happening to you since you're not on formal probation. You're probation status doesn't make much of a difference on anything unless you are actually arrested for a new charge or you pick up a new case. Then the judge can use the informal probation status as sort of a kicker to hit you a little harder in the jail time and fine amount on any new cases.

So don't lose any sleep over it. But, make sure you don't let you're friends endanger you, themselves and everyone else on the road by letting them drive when they are intoxicated. Take their keys and hide them. Tell them you don't know where they are until the next day when you're sure they are sober. Try to remember that they're drunk, they believe they can do anything.
Also, scribbling some nonsense on a piece of paper and signing it never saved anyone's life or prevented an accident. Taking someone's keys so they can not drive when they are intoxicated has, many times, I can assure you.