Related

NY Giants Football Player Charged with DWI in New Jersey

Kareem McKenzie arrested for drunk driving after cutting through gas station.

Kareem McKenzie, starting right tackle for the New York Giants, was arrested for driving while intoxicated in New Jersey on Thursday evening. McKenzie reportedly cut through a gas station and was stopped by Little Falls Township police. He submitted to a breath test and registered a blood-alcohol content in excess of the .08% legal limit for intoxication.

McKenzie is a native of Trenton, New Jersey. He played for Penn State and an eight year veteran with the NFL. McKenzie has played all but three games for the Giants since joining the team for the 2005 season. The Giants organization has indicated McKenzie will play during this week’s game against the Baltimore Ravens, clarifying that only the league, not the individual team, has the right to impose penalties for alcohol or drug offenses. The NFL says that first time offenders for something like DWI must typically enter a substance abuse program and could be subject to suspension or a fine. Head coach Tom Coughlin has been supportive of his offensive lineman, indicating that McKenzie has shown remorse for his mistake.

Have you been charged with DWI in NJ?

Stoned Driver

Court: Police can tell when a driver's stoned
Friday, July 21, 2006 BY ROBERT SCHWANEBERG Star-Ledger Staff

Since 1924, New Jersey courts have followed this rule: anyone can spot a drunk, but it takes special training to recognize when someone is stoned.

Yesterday the state Supreme Court unanimously reaffirmed that rule, but offered this twist: Your typical police officer knows marijuana intoxication when he sees it.

"Expert testimony only requires that a witness be qualified 'by knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education,'" Justice Roberto Rivera-Soto wrote. He said the curriculum for police training covers illegal drugs, their street names and their "symptoms of use."

Prosecutors routinely point to that training to show that a police officer is qualified "to testify as expert witnesses on the subject of marijuana intoxication," the justice wrote.

But Rivera-Soto also said nothing in the law on driving while intoxicated requires such expert testimony. The high court reinstated a Camden County man's conviction for driving under the influence of marijuana, which an appeals court had thrown out because the state did not present an expert witness.

Two state troopers who stopped Justin Bealor's car in Sea Isle City did testify that they observed him driving erratically and that his speech was slurred and his eyes "bloodshot and glassy," the ruling said. A drug test found metabolites of marijuana in Bealor's urine. Taken together, the high court ruled, that was enough evidence to convict Bealor of driving while drugged.

Bealor's lawyer, Brian S. O'Malley of Haddon Heights, said he had expected to win. He said Bealor, now 25, was a college student at the time of his arrest in July 2002.

"The family will be disappointed," O'Malley said. "It's been a roller-coaster ride: conviction, reversal, conviction."

Deputy Attorney General Steven Yomtov, who argued the case for the state, was "pleased with the outcome."

Yomtov said the appeals court ruling had created a problem for prosecutors because it required them to prove through expert testimony that a driver had not merely smoked marijuana, but was driving under its influence. He said drug testing, unlike alcohol testing, cannot tell if someone has enough marijuana in his bloodstream to impair his driving.

On appeal to the Supreme Court, Yomtov argued the symptoms of marijuana intoxication are so well known that ordinary citizens would recognize them. In essence, he argued everyone is an expert at spotting someone who is stoned. The justices rejected that argument but agreed the appeals court had made the case unduly complicated.

"The issue is simple: Was the defendant 'under the influence' of a narcotic, hallucinogen or habit-producing drug while he operated a motor vehicle," Rivera-Soto wrote. He concluded the state proved Bealor drove under the influence of marijuana.

But he added that for future cases, the "preferred method" is for the prosecutor to establish the arresting officer's credentials as an expert in recognizing marijuana intoxication.

"We ended up getting, I think, the same result," Yomtov said.

Source: http://www.nj.com

Tags: New Jersey DUI