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DUI on a mower
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Everything in the story sounds ok till it says you can be arrested in your own yard..
Don't Drink and Mow
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Don't Drink and Mow
A police photograph shows Dondi Bowles on his his lawn mower.
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VERMILION, Ohio -- A man is scheduled to appear in court Tuesday for a drunk driving charge. He says he never should have been charged in the first place because he was on a lawn mower.
It's his third drunk driving arrest in six months. The first time he was in a van; the next in a car. This time he decided to hop on his 20-horsepower lawn mower.
The officer who arrested him captured it all on dash cam video.
Just before 10 p.m. Friday, an officer saw 50-year-old Dondi Bowles driving on the sidewalk along Berkly Road in Vermilion.
The officer says Bowles smelled of alcohol and his speech was slurred.
He arrested Bowles after giving him a field sobriety test.
Later, Bowles blew a .144 -- almost twice the legal limit.
Bowles admits he had a few beers but thought driving his lawn mower 10 m.p.h. on the sidewalk was OK.
"I didn't know you could get a DUI on a bike or a lawnmower," Bowles said. "That's the difference. If I knew that, I would've walked."
Police say he drove the mower to a store about a mile from his home and was arrested on his way back.
"If you're operating any vehicle under the influence, you're under OVI, bicycles, lawnmowers, cars trucks, etc," Vermilion Police Patrolman Scott Holmes said.
Holmes says even if you're in your own backyard and your drunk on any type of vehicle, you can be arrested for operating a vehicle impaired.
The lawn mower was towed.
Bowles says he won't be in court Tuesday to face this drunk driving charge because he's going to be in a local hospital getting treatment for alcohol addiction.
Van O'Cain, New Media Manager
Updated: 5/8/2006 11:44:09 AM
WKYC-TV
Return to Homepage Copyright 2006 WLTX-TV Terms of Service Back to Top
Don't Drink and Mow
Video
Don't Drink and Mow
A police photograph shows Dondi Bowles on his his lawn mower.
E-mail This Article
Printable Version
VERMILION, Ohio -- A man is scheduled to appear in court Tuesday for a drunk driving charge. He says he never should have been charged in the first place because he was on a lawn mower.
It's his third drunk driving arrest in six months. The first time he was in a van; the next in a car. This time he decided to hop on his 20-horsepower lawn mower.
The officer who arrested him captured it all on dash cam video.
Just before 10 p.m. Friday, an officer saw 50-year-old Dondi Bowles driving on the sidewalk along Berkly Road in Vermilion.
The officer says Bowles smelled of alcohol and his speech was slurred.
He arrested Bowles after giving him a field sobriety test.
Later, Bowles blew a .144 -- almost twice the legal limit.
Bowles admits he had a few beers but thought driving his lawn mower 10 m.p.h. on the sidewalk was OK.
"I didn't know you could get a DUI on a bike or a lawnmower," Bowles said. "That's the difference. If I knew that, I would've walked."
Police say he drove the mower to a store about a mile from his home and was arrested on his way back.
"If you're operating any vehicle under the influence, you're under OVI, bicycles, lawnmowers, cars trucks, etc," Vermilion Police Patrolman Scott Holmes said.
Holmes says even if you're in your own backyard and your drunk on any type of vehicle, you can be arrested for operating a vehicle impaired.
The lawn mower was towed.
Bowles says he won't be in court Tuesday to face this drunk driving charge because he's going to be in a local hospital getting treatment for alcohol addiction.
Van O'Cain, New Media Manager
Updated: 5/8/2006 11:44:09 AM
WKYC-TV
Return to Homepage Copyright 2006 WLTX-TV Terms of Service Back to Top
Comments
Can you say: Warrent for failier to appear?
A guy in the town where I grew up got a DUI on horseback! Yep, a horse.
LEO even wrote "weaving and crossing the centerline" on the citation.[:D]
BTW...it was legal to ride a horse in town.
you'd think that would be legal, the horse can get you home as long as you don't fall off [:D]
Just before 10 p.m. Friday, an officer saw 50-year-old Dondi Bowles driving on the sidewalk along Berkly Road in Vermilion.
Police say he drove the mower to a store about a mile from his home and was arrested on his way back.
Yep arrested for being drunk in his own yard[:0]
As I read the report the guy was riding the lawnmower on a public sidewalk not in his own yard..TWO previous DUIs?????????This guy does need a wake up call..
Just before 10 p.m. Friday, an officer saw 50-year-old Dondi Bowles driving on the sidewalk along Berkly Road in Vermilion.
Police say he drove the mower to a store about a mile from his home and was arrested on his way back.
Yep arrested for being drunk in his own yard[:0]
The article did not say he was arrested in his own yard. The cop just said that "even if you were in your own yard driving drunk" you could be arrested. Don
A guy in the town where I grew up got a DUI on horseback! Yep, a horse.
LEO even wrote "weaving and crossing the centerline" on the citation.[:D]
BTW...it was legal to ride a horse in town.
Sounds like my home town. Only seen it written once. Turns out the drunk riding charge was dismissed. But, since the horse was stolen (belonged to the feedlot where the man worked/lived) the theft charge stuck. As an officer in CO, we didn't have the "backyard" authority explained in the story. Besides, he's gonna fall off at some point. It's more fun to see where things land.
This is what you get when you have a Police State, and LEO does not uphold the Constitution for fear of loosing his job.
Every day, I loose a little bit more respect for the law.
It doesnt matter the location he was arrested in, what matters is the fact he drove a lawnmower on public property DRUNK.
Here where I live its against the law to drive a mower on any street..
We had the authority to arrest someone in their backyard, just not for mowing while drunk. In fact, even a minor could drink in their home if one parent was in attendance and gave permission. Though I did understand the operation of a vehicle on the sidewalk gave the officer reason to contact, probable cause must be built AFTER that. Jurisdictions disagree on the definition of "vehicle". And I do agree that law enforcement MUST serve as part of the community, not apart from it. I have a story about a State Trooper who used "clever" ways to search vehicles. To me, he was just unethical, if not illegal. Not all LEOs are willing to cross that line. I didn't.
Columbus Ind.. My exfather-in-law got a ticket while mowing his back yard with a can of beer in his hand. Never had a soberity test, just issued a ticket for drunk in public. He fought it and won but watch out Ind.
That is rediculous. My John Deere has a special cupholder built into the mower just for a can of beer.
dogman- I was wondering if you could elaborate. I'm just curious is all.
As for the guy in the thread, what better way to draw attention to yourself than drive a damn lawn mower to the store and back. To me it is clear the guy was trying to "beat the system" and play games and doesn't take drinking and driving very seriously.
This Trooper would contact the driver of a beat up car, the kind often used in trafficking drugs (b'cuz it's okay if it gets impounded)for something like "Failure to Signal a Lane Change". Then ask for the standard paper work. When the driver wouldn't be able to produce proof of insurance (which the Trooper suspected all along), the Trooper would ask for consent to search. If the driver refused, he would arrest them for driving without insurance. This would allow the Trooper to conduct a "search incident to arrest". See? When asked if he was profiling, he would say, "Yes, I only stop people who violate the law..."
quote:Originally posted by Da-Tank
Columbus Ind.. My exfather-in-law got a ticket while mowing his back yard with a can of beer in his hand. Never had a soberity test, just issued a ticket for drunk in public. He fought it and won but watch out Ind.
That is rediculous. My John Deere has a special cupholder built into the mower just for a can of beer.
It doesn't work very well. I always get grass and dirt in my beer.
(Note: In Virginia, the state supreme court has said that you can be drunk in public in the front yard and get cited for it, but not in the back yard.)
Of course, this lawnmower thing is just part of why I don't go to Ohio anymore. In Pennsylvania he might have been okay. On a horse, he definitely would have been okay in PA - their supreme court said a year or so back that a horse is not subject to the vehicle code (no legal requirement of turn signals, horn, etc.), so the DUI law doesn't apply, either. That makes sense to me.