Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Golf Outing Drunkeness Yields Illinois Bar Complaint


The Legal Profession "blawg" features the Bar Complaint against the Illinois lawyer (pic, for amusement only) who after a game a golf and multiple alcoholic beverages got behind the wheel of his car, headed home, hit a bicyclist causing serious injuries, dragged the bicyclist down the road, drove off the pavement, and then left the scene of the accident.  Mike Frisch at the LP summarizes the tale of DUI woe as follows:

A recent complaint filed by the Illinois Administrator alleges ethical violations based on the following facts:

On May 28, 2008, while playing golf near Portage, Michigan, Respondent consumed four beers and four shots of bourbon.

Respondent entered his automobile after leaving the golf course property, and entered South 11th Street in Prairie Ronde Township, Michigan, a public roadway.

Shortly after Respondent entered South 11th Street, his automobile struck Jared Sweet ("Sweet"), who was riding a bicycle along the road. Respondent's automobile knocked Sweet to the ground and dragged him several yards, inflicting upon him a compound bone fracture and skin abrasions.

After striking and dragging Sweet, Respondent's automobile left the roadway and entered an adjoining field. Respondent then reversed back onto the roadway, told a bystander that someone had been hurt 'back up the road,' and drove away from the scene. Prior to leaving the scene of his collision with Sweet, Respondent did not identify himself or offer to render assistance to Sweet. Respondent was arrested later that day. The complaint further alleges that the attorney pleaded guilty to criminal charges and was ordered to pay restitution to the victim."
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Years ago the practice area that I was most active in had an annual Golf Outing at a Country Club in a more rural area of the OurTown region.  To get to this location you had to negotiate curvy rural roads and every year, there was some car or another that went off the road on the way home.  The next day the regular practitioners would check in with one another to share laughs over drunken debacles of our close associates.

We were pretty clueless.

1 comment:

  1. When a lawyer gets himself in a predicament such as this, would it be wise to represent himself.

    ReplyDelete