Sweden edition

Drunk driving suspect: I got plastered after stopping the car

Published: 11 Sep 09 13:21 CET | Double click on a word to get a translation
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/22022/20090911/

A driver arrested in southern Sweden with a high concentration of alcohol in his blood has been cleared of any wrongdoing after convincing jurors that he first started drinking in the moments after he stopped his car, Metro reports.

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The man's run-in with the law began when he was followed by witnesses who had seen his car swerving all over the road. Once the driver's journey had come to an end, the witnesses also pulled over and called the police.

When the police arrived on the scene the suspect was so drunk that he promptly fell over. But by the time the case came to court the man had managed to come up with an unexpected explanation for his inebriated state.

Appearing in front of Lund District Court, he claimed there was a brief period prior to his arrest during which none of the witnesses had been keeping an eye on him. The man claimed that he used this window of opportunity to swill back more than half a litre of hard liquor.

The court conceded that this version of events could not be disproved. As it was impossible to nail down the extent to which he had been under the influence while behind the wheel of his car, the man was cleared of the drunk driving charges.

TT/The Local (news@thelocal.se/08 656 6518)

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13:56 September 11, 2009 by peropaco

Hahahahahahahaha.. And the judge bought that story...hihihihi. It is almost like the story of Mållgan http://www.thelocal.se/17430/20090207/

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14:35 September 11, 2009 by Kaethar

Innocent until proven guilty. And if you can't prove it - that's that. This isn't such a serious case anyway, since no one was hurt.

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15:25 September 11, 2009 by bocagill

WOW , how stupid is swedish people to believe that or the court system , my excuss would go like this i was driving down the road and a herd of elk ran arcoss the road i was swerving around them and then all of a sudden jack rabbits started jumping arcoss the next so i had to stop because is was like being in the twilight zone and thank god i a liter of whiskey was in the car because i needed to drink the whole liter just to come back to reality. Think they would believe that, i guess so.

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15:46 September 11, 2009 by bettan1

I have never seen such an inept, incompetent, clumsy judicial system as Swedens. I can just see it now, next headlines will be:

"Man Sues Swedish Government for False Arrest" and they'll actually pay this clown!!!

How many times does this garbage have to take place before the authorites actually get a clue their being taken for a sap ???

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15:52 September 11, 2009 by bocagill

To Kaethar

"since no one was hurt."

what a another idiot so i guess its ok to drink and drive as long as no one gets hurt ,WOW!! Do you want to play russian roulette

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17:00 September 11, 2009 by dsclimb

Let's just hope fate does not deal out a cruel blow and when this guy re-offends (because he will) and no one gets hurt.

Wonder how the jury will feel if he hurts someone next week and they had a chance to prevent it.

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17:04 September 11, 2009 by Soft Boiled

Sweden - Its a bit of a hobby country when it comes to the justice system.

WAKE UP!

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17:34 September 11, 2009 by Rick Methven

Actually, If it was not for the witness the guy would never have been stopped. The Police are going out of their way to do alko checks at times when the likelhood of catching an over the limit driver is low. Take today for example- 08:00 I drove past a layby that is commonly used by the police as a check point. - no Police check although lots of drivers going to work that may have been over the limit from the night before. 11:30 go past and there is a check - much fewer cars and all would have had time to sober-up. A few years ago I was checked often at 6-7 in the morning. They caught too many so made the checks later!!

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18:03 September 11, 2009 by DniC

The problems that you find with the Swedish justice system are not unique to Sweden.

3 years ago in Ireland I was knocked down/driven over/hospitalized by a drunk driver. He was tested after the incident and was found to be 3.5 times over the legal limit and 4 days later he got his car back from the cops. Only 7 months later was he sentenced in court to 2 years without a drivers license...which only came into effect 6 months later. So this guy (who had a habit of driving drunk at night) was not put off the road until over a year after nearly having killed me. I'm not sure it would have been too different if I had been killed.

Despite this, and after much though, I believe that the idea of being innocent until proven guilty is important as people should be given the chance of a fair trial before being judged.

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#10

18:04 September 11, 2009 by jack sprat

Could only happen in Sweden!

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#11

18:09 September 11, 2009 by Playmaker

even if it sounds funny and not possable it is innocent until proven guilty and there is a small chace he is telling the truth.

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#12

20:39 September 11, 2009 by Radical1

Stop and drink hey!

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#13

23:22 September 11, 2009 by Heidi-anne

Wow! I thought living in the U.S. was going to hell in a handbasket- you guys are really ****** up! I guess I shouldn't quibble about the stupid things that are going on rignt now at the good ole U.S. of A. !

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#14

01:42 September 12, 2009 by caitlinnor

No, it is not just in Sweden. Good friends of mine from high school were driving home one night. Wrapped a car around a tree, got out of the car went home and promptly started drinking more. By the time the cops got there they were plastered and the cops couldn't even press charges. How on earth could the cops measure how drunk they were when they got in the accident? There are plenty of things to complain about in the Swedish justice system, but in this case at least they were able to prosecute.

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#15

02:41 September 12, 2009 by Hawking

I think this is fantastic! It shows that Swedens judicial system, at least in this case, is functioning the way it should be. Now before you completely flame me, hear me out. Ever heard the saying, "better 10 guilty go free than one innocent be convicted." ? Or "innocent until PROVEN guilty" ? In a world that seems to be increasingly judging people thru the media and public opinion, this court stood by the Rule of Law. There was apparently a reasonable doubt, so they set him free. Wouldn't you rather live with a judicial system like this or would you rather live with one that hands down it's decisions based on heresay, public opinion, or political correctness? And for people that think like Heidi-anne, while the U.S. has many advantages over Sweden, personal liberty is NOT one of them. And hasn't been for quite some time.

H.

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#16

04:01 September 12, 2009 by Greg in Canada

I'm old enough to remember when driving after a few drinks wasn't considered that big of a deal. Everybody used to do it until it became a political cause for the self righteous. Of course there were less cars on the road in those days and society wasn't as crazy as it is now. We want to keep the chronic drunks off the roads but sometimes I think we've gone overboard and become zealots about this issue. There was no proof this guy was driving drunk, so what else could the cops do except let him go. Innocent until proven guilty right?

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#17

04:53 September 12, 2009 by mieoux

It's possible he might have had an open container in the car and did not want to be found with it and also did not want to throw it in case it could be used for evidence so he decided to down it all, but I suspect he was drinking it all along, it's just a matter of how much he had been drinking during the drive. In New York if you are behind the wheel - even if you are not driving and you are just sitting there, even with key out of the ignition it's considered a crime and that takes care of these kinds of situations - they must have had an incident like the one with this guy, some things have to be learned the hard way - hopefully Swedes will learn from this and change the law a bit. But then the blood alcohol limit in Sweden is much much lower than in New York and my impression is that drunk driving is controlled much better in Sweden than in NY even though Swedes drink more, I think Swedes are doing a great job with traffic laws - this guy was just clever.

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#18

08:20 September 12, 2009 by senlac

This man seems to have made a deliberate attempt to avoidprosecution for drunk driving. I think I might have asked him why he swilled down the booze after he had stopped the vehicle.

Whatever reason that he came up with would be an obvious attempt to thwart the course of Justice and I would throw the book at him.

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#19

16:45 September 12, 2009 by Heidi-anne

I guess I need to eat some "humble" pie! I'm sorry Hawking- you are right! I don't want my husband to hear that- I'll deny it!

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#20

22:11 September 12, 2009 by hereandthere

Wow, this is just like Hunter S. Thompson in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas...When you get pulled over, turn off the car, take out your keys, and when the cop is looking at you, crack open your unopened bottle of Jack Daniels and start guzzling! I always thought maybe that would work-now I know!

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#21

10:02 September 15, 2009 by newswede

Lund District Court. I hope they are remembered when this guy kills someone.

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