Attorney For Fighting NJ DUI Case With Multiple Drivers

Hoboken Police, responding to a call about multiple car crashes involving parked cars, found a pair of women who had allegedly been alternating driving chores in a small-scale drunk driving spree. Inside the car, officers found 23-year-old Janelle Green, a New Jersey resident, behind the wheel and 24-year-old Jamila Banks, a resident of Alexandria, Virginia, in the passenger seat.

According to the two women, Banks had been driving the car but hit two parked cars as she went. Perhaps recognizing that she shouldn’t be driving, she turned the wheel over to Green. Unfortunately, Green was also allegedly intoxicated at the time, and she went on to strike at least two more parked vehicles.

Hiring A DUI Lawyer To Fight New Jersey Drunk Driving Charges

Both women were taken into custody and charged with DWI in a school zone. Looking at the bright side, no one was injured in the incident, including Green and Banks, but both will have a fight on their hands to push back on this novel DWI story.

If you’ve been arrested for DWI in New Jersey, an experienced DWI defense attorney can make a big difference for you. Call Matthew Reisig today at 732-378-9272 for a free consultation with an experienced New Jersey drunk driving defense attorney.

A New Jersey snowplow driver with a history of DWIs made headlines in January when he crashed a Department of Transportation-owned snow removal vehicle into two cars along Route 23 in Pequannock.

Police determined that the driver, Roger Attieh, 36, a resident of Boonton, had a blood alcohol level that was nine times over the limit of .04% that’s allowed for those who hold commercial driver’s licenses.

It was not Attieh’s first, or even second, DWI.

In fact, this incident represents the fourth DWI that Attieh has been charged with, and his record includes earlier incidents from 2002 and 2007.

Because of multiple DUI convictions, he was forced to wait ten years before applying for and receiving a commercial driver’s license in 2017, and then he picked up his third DWI arrest in Denville during the month of December.

Surprisingly, state agencies appear to have complied with all federal and state laws in Attieh’s application process, checking his record going back a decade as required, but no further.

If he’s convicted of the December DWI, he will lose his commercial driver’s license for a year.

If he’s convicted of that incident and the January snowplow arrest, he’ll be permanently barred from holding a CDL in New Jersey.

DWI takes on greater significance when your livelihood is on the line.

If you’re a truck driver facing DWI charges in New Jersey, call Matthew Reisig today at 732-378-9272 for a free consultation with an experienced New Jersey DWI defense lawyer.

Voters in New Jersey’s fifth district might be breathing a sigh of relief about their electoral choices after a former candidate for its congressional seat was charged with drunk driving after crashing his pickup truck into a house in Newton.

Tod A. Theise, 55, of Hackettstown, was allegedly driving drunk with an open container of alcohol in his car around 2:00 in the afternoon on New Year’s Day when he lost control of the vehicle and it slammed into a house on High Street.

The crash reportedly caused serious damage to the house, which was ultimately determined to be an unsafe structure as a result.

Theise was charged with DWI, refusal, careless driving, and possession of an open container of alcohol in a motor vehicle, and released to a sober adult pending a court appearance.

In 2010, he mounted a campaign to unseat former Representative Scott Garrett, who later lost the 2016 race to current Representative Josh Gottheimer.

Theise has not sought elected office since that race, and now it seems likely that he’s out of the politics game for good.

If you’ve been charged with DWI in New Jersey, don’t go it alone.

Matthew Reisig has helped more than 1,040 New Jersey residents avoid conviction on DWI and related charges.

If you want to avoid DWI conviction in New Jersey, Matthew Reisig is your best chance.

Call 732-625-9660 today for a free consultation with an experienced New Jersey DWI defense lawyer.

A young Hopatcong man caused a commotion recently after striking a curb with his car while driving drunk.

On October 9, Hopatcong police received a report that a black Jeep had struck a light post as it exited the town, and arrived at the scene shortly thereafter.

They determined that the light post was intact, but a vehicle had struck the curb near it.

At the local Quick Chek, they found a black Jeep with body damage indicative of the struck curb, and waited outside for the driver to emerge from the store.

His arrival likely did not go the way they expected.

First, Joseph Hannivig, 24, blew off the damage by saying the car was a rental.

He then told police that he’d been drinking at home earlier, and then had more to drink at a local restaurant.

He was unable to complete NJ officer’s field sobriety tests, and was taken into custody.

At the police station, Hannivig became combative as officers attempted to test his blood alcohol level, demanding that they shoot him in the head and challenging them to physically harm him.

Hannivig was ultimately charged with DWI, refusal, careless driving, and reckless driving, but officers first opted to take him to a hospital for further evaluation.

When you’ve been arrested for DWI in New Jersey, regardless of the circumstances, an experienced DWI defense lawyer can make a big difference in your case.

Call Matthew Reisig today at 732-625-9660 for your free consultation.

If DWI arrests were a competitive sport, a 71-year-old Mahwah man would be in contention for the gold.

First, Richard B. Haskell was found in his car by police on the morning on September 23.

He was passed out at Suraci’s Pond, and neighbors had complained about an unresponsive person in a vehicle there.

Haskell had a bottle of alcohol between his legs, and the responding officer, Sgt. Timothy Shoemaker, reported that he could clearly smell the odor of alcohol on the man’s breath.

Shoemaker asked Haskell to perform a field sobriety test, which he failed. He then was taken into custody on suspicion of DWI.

At the station, Haskell’s blood alcohol concentration was found to be .21 percent. He was charged with an open container violation and DWI, then released to a sober driver.

Around lunchtime, Haskell pulled into the police station in a different vehicle and came inside to find out when his first vehicle, which was impounded after his arrest, would be released.

Police noticed that he still appeared to be intoxicated. They performed another round of field sobriety tests, which he again failed.

His blood alcohol concentration was recorded as .14 percent.

Haskell was then charged with a second count of DWI just hours after his first, and will appear in Ramsey Municipal Court on Oct. 24.

Some DWI stories are funny to read, but they’re never funny to the person cited.

If you’ve been arrested for DWI in New Jersey, call Matthew Reisig today at 732-625-9660 for a free consultation with an experienced New Jersey DWI defense lawyer.

The most common DWI arrests involve someone who becomes intoxicated at a location, perhaps a bar or a party, and is then stopped by police for traffic infractions.

In a good portion of these cases, there may be additional alcohol in the car.

In a fraction of those cases, the driver will still be consuming alcohol as they’re attempting to operate their vehicle.

That’s what police say Ricky Soper, 51, of Manville was doing as he proceeded through Bedminster on June 14.

Police received calls after 10:30 in the morning of a blue Ford F150 speeding along Route 206 in Bedminster and eventually stopped the vehicle on I-287 southbound at mile marker 21.6 at 10:45 a.m.

Investigation revealed that Soper was not only intoxicated, but had an open container of alcohol in the car, from which he was drinking.

He was charged with DWI, careless driving, reckless driving, obstructed windshield, plus summonses for the open container and consumption in a motor vehicle.

In general, the more pieces of evidence of drunk driving that exist, the more difficult it is to beat a DWI charge, but that doesn’t mean that you have no hope.

An experienced New Jersey DWI lawyer can make a big difference in your case.

If you’ve been arrested for DWI, call Matthew Reisig today at 732-625-9660 for a free consultation with an experienced New Jersey DWI defense lawyer.

An open records request made by news outlet New Jersey 101.5 is giving the public a first view of the extent to which police officers have themselves been brushing up against New Jersey’s DWI laws.

In at least one newly discovered case, reporting requirements imposed by counties seem to not have been properly followed.

That appears to be the case for a Union County Sheriff’s Office captain whose job it is to investigate allegations of wrongdoing by fellow cops.

The night of April 9, William Bukowski’s Chevrolet Tahoe swerved out of his lane of traffic and struck a parked Chevrolet Colorado, hitting it with enough force to send the Colorado across the street and onto a nearby lawn.

Bukowski told responding officers that he reacted when a deer ran in front of his car, but subsequent investigation revealed that his blood alcohol level was .22 percent, or almost three times the legal limit.

In Union County, a rule was implemented after a tragic 2015 case where a Linden police officer killed two men in a wrong-way drunk driving crash.

The rule requires that DWI and other misdemeanor charges incurred by police officers must be reported to prosecutors.

Bukowski, 47, was charged with DWI and careless driving, and is awaiting his case to be heard in Westfield Municipal Court.

Sheriff Joe Cryan, who is vying for a state Senate seat this fall, declined to comment on what he described as a personnel matter, and did not elaborate on whether Bukowski’s case had been properly forwarded to the local prosecutor’s office under the existing rule.

A DWI charge can have serious impacts in all areas of your life.

If you’ve been arrested for DWI in New Jersey, call Matthew Reisig today at 732-625-9660 and talk to an experienced DWI defense lawyer for free.

From the pictures, it’s hard to believe that the two men in Vasili Pieratos’s Mercedes Benz walked away from a devastating crash in Park Ridge, but luckily, they did.

Pieratos, 43, a police sergeant in Ramsey, lost control of the car as he came around a curve on Kinderkamack Road in the early morning hours of June 14.

The car left the road, went through a yard, struck a tree, and rolled over before finally coming to rest in a second yard.

Pieratos and his passenger, also a police officer, were able to get themselves out of the vehicle without help from police and fire crews who arrived on the scene after homeowners in the area called it in.

The driver’s blood alcohol level was recorded at 0.19%, more than twice the legal limit for DWI.

Officer Todd Stowe, who responded to the accident, wrote in his report that, “The driver’s impairment by alcohol caused him to fail to negotiate the curve and the resultant crash.”

Pieratos was charged with DWI, reckless driving, and given a summons for an unsafe lane change.

Asked for comment by local media, Ramsey Police Chief Bryan Gurney would only provide an email saying that his officer’s DWI is a personnel matter and the department will handle the situation according to state guidelines.

It’s entirely possible that Pieratos will be able to keep his job, though his record will undoubtedly be scrutinized and play a role in final determinations.

People entrusted with public safety have a heavier burden when they become a danger to the public, and Pieratos and his passenger both have a lot of explaining to do.

If you’ve been arrested for DWI in New Jersey, get experienced help right away.

Matthew Reisig has helped more than 1,040 drivers avoid conviction on DWI charges.

Call 732-625-9660 today for your free consultation.

Well that didn’t take long.

After the new Goethals Bridge opened in early June, replacing the old bridge in connecting New Jersey to Staten Island, it took just days for police in the vicinity to arrest a man for driving drunk – and in the wrong direction – from the bridge.

The arrest happened on the New York side of the bridge, where a 26-year-old Hazlet, New Jersey, man was driving eastbound in the westbound lane on Goethals Road around 4:00 on Sunday morning.

The car was weaving as well, and when police pulled the vehicle over, the driver was unable to perform field sobriety tests after he nearly fell down.

After refusing a breathalyzer test, he was arrested and taken to headquarters for processing.

Just because he was arrested in another state doesn’t mean the driver will suffer no hardships when he comes home.

Because of reciprocity agreements made with most other states, punishments you receive while traveling follow you back to New Jersey, and after conviction elsewhere, you’re likely to receive a letter informing you that your New Jersey driver’s license is suspended.

There are ways to fight this, and it’s always worthwhile to sit down with an experienced New Jersey DWI lawyer to talk about your options when facing sanction at home for decisions made across a state border.

If you’re facing DWI penalties from out of state, call Matthew Reisig today at 732-625-9660 for a free consultation with an experienced DWI defense lawyer.

Over the border in Pennsylvania, a District Judge has found herself in some hot water after a DUI stop in April.

At the time, her blood alcohol level was more than twice the legal limit, and in late May she waived a hearing on her case.

She remains on the bench, though all DUI cases on her docket have been reassigned to District Judge Thomas H. Xavios, who is notably also hearing her case.

In a bit of an irony, Scott’s lawyer told the court that the judge is applying to participate in Pennsylvania’s Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition program, or ARD.

This is a probationary program that lets first-time offenders complete a series of requirements, including community service, payment of court costs, and other elements that the District Attorney decides are necessary.

Once completed, a first-time DUI offender walks away with a clean record and no admission of guilt.

Scott is the 29-year-old daughter of Reading’s Mayor, Wally Scott, and succeeded her dad on the bench when he retired to run for mayor.

Her lawyer insists that the case features no special treatment for his client, and that the same rules that would apply to any defendant are being applied here.

Still, for defendants who can’t afford a lawyer or meet the terms of a diversionary program, it has to look like the privileged are, as always, prevailing.

New Jersey doesn’t have a first-offender diversion program for DWI, but it does have ample opportunities to defend yourself against charges of drunk driving.

If you’ve been stopped for DWI in New Jersey, call Matthew Reisig today at 732-625-9660 for a free consultation with an experienced New Jersey DWI defense attorney.