With each conviction of driving while under the influence of drugs or alcohol, the penalties increase. You lose your license, you forfeit your car, you get probation and maybe even jail time if you don’t learn your lesson after a few arrests. By that time, your choices boil down to trial or plea bargain, and mitigate the extent of your punishment as much as possible.
But some people just never learn. Such is the case with a man from New York Mills (Minnesota, not New York) who has 27 DWI convictions. At 59-years-old, he’s been convicted and imprisoned several times under several aliases. With a somewhat infamous record in the state, you better believe authorities keep an eye out for him on the road.
Well, he did it again. Police stopped him for driving earlier this week. But he was not drunk. He was, however, driving a car without a license, after revocation, which was a violation of his probation. He is now heading back to prison just a couple months after completing a previous sentence.
For some reason this guy can’t stop drinking or driving. He says he drinks to get drunk and unless he is in prison, nothing stops him. His county operates a DWI court for repeat offenders including intervention and treatment. Sometimes, officials say, it takes multiple attempts at treatment to help those with serious drinking problems.
In the state of New York, with just your first DWI offense, you can face up to a year in jail, up to $1,000 in fines, a six-month minimum license suspension, the possible installation of an ignition interlock device, a mandatory surcharge, and a mandatory alcohol screening and evaluation.
Source: eotfocus.com, “Man with 27 DWIs back in Otter Tail County Jail,” Kevin Wallevand, June 5, 2012
