Hines Ward Pleads Guilty

Hines Ward Pleads Guilty To Reckless Driving

 

ZZZZzzzzzzZZZZZZzzzzzzzzZZZZZzzzzz.....

 

Is this what replaced the "Ben hasn't called Haley yet" controversy?

 

I was seriously disappointed when that whole ordeal went down.

 

Why do you have to be so rude? Its a MESSAGE board. If you dont like the topic (which you can clearly read before clicking on it), just skip over it. :roll: I have never started a thread on this board and now I know why....

 

The plea bargain that resulted in the reckless driving charge, the DUI charge was dropped.
http://eye-on-football.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/22475988/34945824

 

So disappointing. :-(

 

I was hoping you wouldn't misinterpret my post as a criticism of your post. I was simply saying it was a non story, as far as the media goes...

Sorry...

 

Interesting that the article says he isn't charged with a DUI yet he has agreed to undergo alcohol counseling. I find it hard to believe he would agree to take the time to do that if he, in fact, had not been drinking at the time of the accident. I like Hines as much as the next guy but this seems like another case of a celebrity getting a slap on the wrist when the Average Joe would be booked for a DUI.

 

Now that the DUI has been dropped, it's a complete non-issue. No one is a perfect driver 100% of the time, humans are prone to mistakes.

 

nothing interesting about it. that's the plea. no DUI if he pleads guilty to 'reckless driving.' that doesn't mean he "wasn't drinking." it's simply a plea BARGAIN. that's an awesome break, actually. anybody staring at a DUI . . . this is the outcome they are looking for.

alcohol counseling is part of the plea deal. it's just part of the pile of S they throw on anybody that is out drinking and driving. alcohol counseling, MADD classes, traffic survival school, JAIL TIME, thousands of dollars in fines . . . some states even require you to install a breathalyzer on your car for a year (which won't allow the car to even start unless you blow into it and have a BAC reading of less than something like 0.025 - which is so low that mouthwash could produce a negative reading).

normally, these please are only given when the offender's BAC is right around the legal 'limit' (generally .08).

so, for all suggesting how "disappointed" they are in hines, this should actually show that they should be less disappointed than before because he might have been rolling around after only a couple of beers or something (which 90% of this board has probably, themselves, 'disappointingly' partaken in).

stones.

glass houses.

 

Was that article right? He was sentences to 12 months prison, but they reduced the sentence?

12 months wow, imagine if that would have really stuck and he would have been forced to go out like that?

 

I know it's pretty scary. Damn near 50% of everyone I know has already been nailed with a DUI and the other 50% have been just flat out damn lucky so far.

 

Who really cares....He is a big boy and knows right from wrong. Drink away Hines.

 

My knowledge on this subjecit is old (my dad was a Justice of the Peace in the 1970's), but back then and back there, Reckless Driving was a more serious offense than DUI. And I guess I thought it still was.

Could Hines have made his plea deal to a more serious charge, but one that would not have got him in trouble w/ the NFL's substance abuse policy? I do believe the NFL disciplines players for DUI.

A first time DUI would could you maybe $5-$10K, after lawyers fees, fines, etc. An NFL suspension would cost a guy like Hines ten times that.

 

Meh. People make mistakes. I'm sure he is more disappointed in himself than anyone is of him.

 

True dat

 

DUIs are worse than reckless driving. he pled DOWN to reckless driving.

 

Good points....Plus everyone has to understand a few things. There are many legit DUI arrest. There are some odd ones also. I can only speak of what I have noticed. I travel during the summer and attend many functions regionally in which many of the people attending are engaging in drinking to some degree, sometimes only one beer. DUI is a glory stop for officers (my opinion), I believe they get recognized for these kind of stops more than you average traffic violation ( have heard of a local officer getting recognized with an award for # of stops).
Lets imagine you get stopped after have one beer, and in my state no matter how you perform doing their roadside calistenics they have "officers decretion" or something to that effect- no matter what you blow also. I have seen people stopped and heard they admitted to a beer or 2- sometimes over a period of hours, blow below the limit and still arrested. There is something in place where you can still be arrested.

If some wise ass follows you because you are leaving a place that probably they think you may have had a drink, stop you for an improper lane change (alleged - profiling a person to make a glory stop since vehicile left establishment where drinking occurs), says he smells something and you know where this is going, just say "if thats your belief then take me in and lets do the blood test, thats the way I wish to be tested." Normally thats all it takes. After they run you license, they come back with some deflection routine and some advice- Just smile, say "thanks" and be on your way. I have heard that once you say "I had one or 2 beers over period of evening" that you are going to get probed pretty bad.

 

DUI has become a political issue that is emotionally charged with all kinds of problems. The bottom line is that states make more money off DUI law than anything else judiciously. Add money, state control, mandatory sentences, and no way for judges to evaluate each case individually and it's all over but the weeping!

I don't think you can plea bargain out of it as it's mandated under state control. In other words, they either have the evidence to convict, or they don't. A good lawyer can only illuminate what law enforcement did or did not do/prove.

Murder is easier to fight in the courts than DUI. The money is just rolling in and they will do anything to make the #s work to keep that money rolling in. Fact is, it has not been effective.

Too much money, it's here to stay!

 

actually, although you're right about DUI's being a cash-cow for the state, they're easily (and often) pled to the lesser charge of reckless driving. the prosecutors and defenders are all pretty well-acquainted with one another, do favors for one another, etc, but the prosecutors will only even entertain the idea of a plea if the BAC is hovering right around the limit (pleading DUI's down to reckless if the BAC is close to .08; pleading 'extreme' DUI's down to standard DUI's if it's close to .08 -- the standards vary from state to state).
hines' BAC must have clearly been right around .08 (which, in my novice opinion, probably meant hines was far from 'drunk').

back to the 'cash cow for the state' thing . . . arizona, the most notorious state in the country in terms of DUI's, records more arrests than any other state. the interesting thing is, that in the biggest party weekend in the entire year (the FBR Open - the golf tournament played in january or february that draws tons of celebs for all over the country) records hardly any arrests. more people are drunk and driving in that state that weekend more than any other weekend of the year but the directive from the sherrif's office has been NOT to arrest people because they don't want tourists to come to our city and have a DUI be their experience.

 

You make that sound like a bad thing. DUI is a truly awful thing to do. How messed up it is isn't something that was made up to get money. It was already messed up, so states decide to make money off of it as an additional deterrant. I don't see what's wrong with that. Someone drives drunk, they need to be punished. Make them help the community. Make them pay. It's late. I might not be understanding your point entirely.

As for Hines, I have no idea how drunk he was or wasn't, but I thought I read that he was swirving and crashed into the curb, maybe more than once. If he can't make his car stay in the lane, he's had too much to drink. Even if it was one beer.

 

I just wonder how much this weigh in on him being resigned.

 

What's wrong with it is they all start depending on that money too much just like the federal government with our tax dollars and as a result it incents the wrong behavior by law enforcement ie, bogus DUI arrests, further infringement of our rights and freedoms and misdirection of law enforcement resource like having 6 to 10 officers at a DUI checkpoint when they could be elsewhere protecting the public from more severe crime like rape, robbery and murder. Clearly I don't advocate drunks climbing behind the wheel but at the same time the extent that some of the local municipalities go to anymore to meet their self imposed DUI arrest revenues is ridiculous. I know a one time offender who basically had his life ruined for barely registering above the legal limit while being stopped at a surprise DUI checkpoint. The guy wasn't anywhere close to being too impaired to drive but he might as well have been trashed behind the wheel because his punishment was no different than a guy who couldn't walk a straight line. At the same time I've seen cases where real drunks have been arrested for DUI more than 3 times and just keep getting the standard fines / punishment like everyone else and before long they're back out on the road to drive drunk again which is insane. Getting impaired drivers who are a threat to themselves and others off the road is one thing but going out of your way to target an entire population because they MIGHT have had something to drink is another and that's what goes on today all for the sake of collecting more money.

 

Just be glad your not in my seat. I drive an 18-wheeler for a living and have a commercial drivers license. Because my license is a CDL, my legal limit at all times is .04. That .04 doesn't matter if I'm in my truck or in my personal vehicle.