Question: My daughter was charged with DUI in Sandy Springs.  We went out to lunch at Tony's Sports Bar and we each had a couple of beers.  I had a burger and she didn't have any food because she's on a diet.  After lunch she wanted to drive my new Maserati so I thought that would be alright.  She only had 2 beers.

Well she was pulled over for speeding by a Sandy Springs cop on Northridge Road.  He said she was 20 M.P.H. over the speed limit.  But I don't think she was going that fast.  It was in the afternoon, just after lunch.

He made her get out of the car and she walked a line and held her leg up.  He looked in her eyes.  She blew into a breathalyzer.  She was very cooperative with the cops.  She was crying.

He arrested her for DUI.  I couldn't believe it.  At the jail she took another breathalyzer test and her score was really low.  It was a .038.  Thai's much less than .08.  But the Sandy Springs cop gave her a DUI anyway.  I can't believe it.  How could the policeman give her a DUI when her breath test score was so low?  It's not fair; it's wrong.  My daughter is 19 years old and she doesn't want a DUI.

H.U. in Sandy Springs.

Answer: Your daughter was charged with a DUI because for individuals under the age of 21, the per se limit is .02.  So while her blood-alcohol concentration (BAC) level was about half the per se limit for people 21 years of age and over, her BAC level was just about twice the per se limit for those under 21.

You need to convince the Sandy Springs prosecutors that her low BAC (at least for people over 21) and her cooperation are strong reasons to reduce the charge from DUI to reckless driving.  We're assuming this is her first DUI arrest.  Getting a reduction from DUI to reckless driving is certainly much easier if someone has not faced a DUI charge in the past.

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