Saturday, March 17, 2012

"Rudy's DUI"

12:00 noon a friend named Rudy who’s Navajo and a working electrical foreman. Sat down in a bar named ‘Tilted Kilt’ in Tempe Arizona, the home of Arizona State University. Rudy and a fellow electrician had a short day. And thought they have a couple of early beers together, why not. Little did Rudy know that about 10:30 PM the same night. Rudy would be getting released from a Tempe Police Department Mobil Task Force Center. This is the story how the system treats DUI offenders. And that the DUI offenders are no more than cash flow for the cities and jail system.

Now my friend is a pretty structured fellow. And I’ve noticed over the years most electricians are. This come from the type of work we do. When it’s “Time” to power up your work, three things can happen. It comes on, it doesn’t come on, or the damn thing blows up, and hopefully not in your face. So electrician have a way of becoming very structured whither they realize it or not. On this day Rudy forgot the structure of what he does before having a beer or two. Which includes drinking a lot of water before hand to dilute the alcohol content in his body. That was Rudy’s first mistake of the day, others were to follow. As friends get together and start drinking and telling stories. “Time” passes by fast and then someone orders a round of shots. And of course as that happens you don’t realize that maybe your drunk as alcohol has a tendency to do that. Rudy’s drinking buds are getting carried away and leave Rudy at the bar alone. Rudy panics, he’s now alone and far from home in Laveen and it’s only 5:00 in the afternoon. Rudy’s second mistake is about to happen. He pays his tab and heads for his car and thinks he heading for home. Some how Rudy decides he’s to drunk to drive, problem is Rudy is already on the streets driving drunk. Third mistake is about to happen too Rudy. He was smart enough to get off the streets and pull over and take a nap. Until he is able to drive safely home. The third problem was, Rudy left the engine running in his vehicle. Next thing Rudy realizes he’s in handcuffs setting in a Tempe Police car. If Rudy would have turned the engine off and slept off the alcohol. Then the would have been no reason for the Tempe Police to approach his vehicle. But with the engine running the Tempe Police knew Rudy had driven too where he was at.

The Tempe Police did a Field Sobriety check on Rudy, he blew a .198. In Arizona .15 is called Extreme and a .2 is Super Extreme. With a high alcohol blood content, Rudy faced a lot tougher punishment then just a standard DUI. Which is just some fines and normal BS from the state. Rudy was facing 90 days in jail and that jail would have been Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s infamous ‘Tent City’. Rudy was taken too the Tempe Police Mobil Task Force Center. Which was some trailers that had offices in them, where people picked up for various crimes are processed. Their Rudy was required to take another Breather Analyzer Test. And the Tempe officer did Rudy’s paper work. At 10:30 PM Rudy was taken too an awaiting cab. The cabs were lined up in a row. Waiting for others like Rudy to be taken home. You can start to see the financial process starting to work right here.

Rudy was driven too his home in Laveen, a $60 cab ride, because Laveen is in the west part of the Valley of the Sun. And Tempe is more centrally located. Rudy said he was lucky because he had the cash in his pocket (Makes you wonder if the cabbie knew how much cash Rudy had.) After getting home and now realizing what had just happen to himself. Rudy went into the garage where a Punching Bag was located. Pissed off at himself for his stupidity, Rudy took out his frustrations on the Punching Bag (beats the Hell out of the walls. lol). Rudy told me that, that night he was already in jail, with self punishment. And now the waiting game would start to find out, just what was the State or City of Tempe’s punishment going to be.

About two weeks later Rudy was to appear before the Court in downtown Phoenix. This would be his Preliminary Court date. Where it would be established just why Rudy was standing before the judge. Rudy asked for a 30 day extension (which was granted) so he could do some research on what he was facing. What he was facing is, 90 days in jail, a huge fine and suspension of driving privileges for a period of “Time”. A Drivers License is a absolute necessity for a construction worker. What Rudy found out in his research was, pretty much every thing was already ‘set in stone’. So 30 days later, Rudy would appear in court, at the mercy of the court system.

Rudy pleaded guilty to the charges of driving drunk (extreme DUI). Then made a Plea Agreement with the Courts.The good news was that Rudy qualified for Work Release. That also allowed him use of his restricted driving privileges. Rudy would be allowed to drive too and from work and the college classes he is taking. The good news was also Rudy would not be facing 90 nights in Joe Arpaio’s Tent City. Instead Rudy would spent a weekend in Joe’s Tent City. Then check in each night for 4 nights, that where the hours of 6:00 PM until 6:00 AM the next morning. He was also fined $3,500 to be made in payments, and confined to Home Arrest (more on this later). The same week Rudy went to count, that weekend he started his weekend in jail. Telling me he just wanted to get it over with and there was no reason to drag this out.

I’m teaching Rudy the ins and out of running a good sized electrical project ($500,000+). And we have become friend and one of the main reasons I’m writing this or his story. So I pretty much each morning, spend a couple of hours with him on site (fine turning). He running a project called ‘Frank Luke Senior Living Center’ (3 stories) which is owned by the City of Phoenix. I ask him how things are in Joe’s Tent City each morning. Rudy said the food was called ‘Slop’ and looked like a runny gray matter, but he did recognized a piece of potato and carrot in it. Rudy was house with others of similar crimes and never said anything happened to him while spending his nights in jail.

This past Thursday night was Rudy’s final night in jail. He was to be released Friday morning. He was told that his last night would be the toughest one. As he would be processed out. At 11:00 PM his name was called to begin the processing out. He was moved into a holding cell with about 12 others with similar charges. The cell was 8 feet by 12 feet and a concrete bench to sit on. He soon found out if one of the others acted out. The rest would be punished by making the process of getting released longer. 5 Monkeys http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZeiSKnhOBc Rudy was finally released at 5:30 AM Friday morning. He was released from being in jail but was still on Home Detention, and that’s just what it means. Rudy had to get a Land Line installed in his home. So Breath Analyzer could be installed via his phone line. And this was done at a cost of $340 to Rudy. The machine calls with the sound of a siren (mind control) 3 “Times” a day. It makes sure Rudy is at home and also makes him blow into the device to make sure he is not drinking any alcoholic beverage.

The real lesson here is that rehab or learning of one’s mistakes. Has no place in the court system concerning DUI cases. It is simply a BIG MONEY maker for the system. The Court System could care less about Rudy and thousands like him. They are simply pawns in a much bigger game. And if Rudy or others like him return, it will just be even bigger money for the Court System. In Arizona your third DUI you never get out of jail. You go right from the DUI check point too jail. Because basically your on probation and you have broke your probation. Here is a short video of Rudy and me describing the job site Rudy is currently working on. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8msTzgyIZA8

"God" bless

bye

1 comment:

Mr. R said...

The night never again. determined to get this in the past where it belongs, a new day dawns and new motivation to continue forward