A New York man was charged with DWI in Guttenberg, New Jersey as well as Reckless Driving and Eluding a Police Officer after almost colliding with a Guttenberg police car while speeding down a one way street the wrong way down. After nearly causing two accidents, the police ordered the man to stop and a car chase ensued until the man finally pulled over and was brought into custody. After being stopped the man appeared visibly intoxicated, smelled of alcohol, and was incoherent. Given his extreme state of intoxication, the police called an ambulance to the scene and he was Palisade Medical Center in North Bergen where a blood sample was taken. Blood draw tests to determine the level of alcohol or drugs in a defendant’s system are common in DWI cases involving accidents, high levels of intoxication, and uncooperative defendants.
DWI and Reckless Driving tickets are motor vehicle violations and would normally be heard in the Guttenberg Municipal Court. However, in this case the defendant will have to appear in the Hudson County Superior Court in Jersey City because he was also arrested for Eluding a Police Officer which is an indictable offense (also referred to as a felony). In Hudson County, most defendants charged with an indictable offense will be ordered to appear in Central Judicial Processing to address their charges. From there the case can be resolved, remanded, or assigned to a criminal judge. An eluding charge is a very serious crime and, if convicted, is punishable by a presumption of incarceration in state prison in some situations. Therefore, it is important to have an experienced criminal defense lawyer represent you against these charges. The defendant in this case maintains that someone must have drugged him by putting something in his drink because he doesn’t remember anything. It should be interesting to see what the toxicology and blood alcohol concentration show from the blood test.
