Teenager’s Alcohol Offense Reduced to Traffic

We recently helped a student in his teens who was charged with minor operating a vehicle with alcohol in system and driving a vehicle at an unsafe speed in Allegheny County. This is a summary offense punishable by up to 90 days in jail and a 90-day driver’s license suspension.

At the time of the offense, the young man was allegedly driving his car at an unsafe speed in the rain. A police officer pulled him over and began asking him questions. The young man, while respectful to the police officer, made the mistake of admitting that he had consumed two beers earlier in the night; he was subsequently charged.

As a student who also worked, he was concerned about having a stain on his record and about potentially losing his driver’s license, which would make getting to school and work difficult. He hired Mike Worgul to handle his case. Since the client had a previous encounter with the same police officer in the past, he was worried that the officer would not be so lenient this time around. Since the police officer did not chemically test the client for the presence of alcohol, there was no way to prove that our client had consumed any alcohol. This became the foundation for our defense. Our local criminal attorneys attended two court dates on our client’s behalf in which we were able to use our evidentiary standing to negotiate a settlement with the officer. Our client ultimately plead guilty to several low-level traffic offenses with no points on his record and no driver’s license suspension. He continues to attend class and work.

Case results depend upon a variety of factors unique to each case. Case results do not guarantee or predict a similar result in any future case.