A 24-year-old Brainerd woman was arrested recently after she allegedly struck and killed a 57-year-old cyclist in Cass County. The woman has been accused drinking just before the accident.
The incident occurred around 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 10, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune. The woman is likely to be charged with a crime, though as far as we know formal charges have not yet been filed.
We wanted to relate this story, even though it comes to us from outstate Minnesota, because we were intrigued by the description of the woman as ‘having been drinking.’ The average layperson might hear that and think that the woman was intoxicated at the time of the crash, but we want to strenuously observe that ‘had been drinking’ is not the same as being ‘drunk.’
Without making any statement regarding the woman’s guilt or innocence, we want to point out that it is legal to drive even if you have had something to drink. As long as your BAC is under 0.08, you are not considered “drunk” for DWI purposes.
The overall point of this post that we want you to take home is that “driving drunk” situations are often more complicated and nuanced than the average person perceives them to be.
If you are ever involved in some kind of accident or get pulled over and the responding officer develops the impression that you are intoxicated, do not hesitate to reach out to a criminal defense lawyer after the fact, if you would like to.
To get in touch with a Minneapolis DWI lawyer, you can contact me at any point.