BREAKING NEWS: LARUSSA ARRESTED

[BenNX74205]

Passing out could have been an adverse reaction to some medication, or something as simple as "hey I get up at 5am every day to go to work and it's midnight and I'm tired."

.093 isn't nothing, but it's also barely over the limit. He'll probably get sentenced to community service, do some kind of public service message through MLB, pay his fine, and at the very least put this all behind him.

Any pundits that continue to harp on this after it has blown over better hope they've never been caught doing anything alcohol-related, or that they don't get arrested for a DUI.

[Popeye_Card]

WHen we start defending drinking and driving there is a bigger issue at hand. Saying .093 is no big deal, well my goodness it is a big deal. It impairs your vision and refelxes. He could have killed someone.

I'm not defending drinking and driving. But I recognize that people driving at a 0.093 level is an every day occurance.

Personally, I think anyone driving while talking on a cell phone (or even worse, text messaging) is more distracted than a person who is at a 0.093 blood alcohol level. They could kill someone too. Heck, a stone cold sober person who looks down to change radio stations could rear-end someone and kill them. Any person driving at 12am is probably tired and has about the same level of impaired reflexes. Cars are dangerous devices.

Should he have driven? Obviously not based on the letter of the law. But given all the good things that LaRussa does for charity, I'm willing to let the most minor of DUI's go. It was a mistake in judgement.

--P--

[Cronos]

Personally, I think anyone driving while talking on a cell phone (or even worse, text messaging) is more distracted than a person who is at a 0.093 blood alcohol level.

Statistics have shown that someone talking on their cell phone while driving is definitely just as likely and perhaps even more likely to cause/have an accident than someone over the legal limit, yes.

[BenNX74205]

WHen we start defending drinking and driving there is a bigger issue at hand. Saying .093 is no big deal, well my goodness it is a big deal. It impairs your vision and refelxes. He could have killed someone.

I'm not defending drinking and driving. But I recognize that people driving at a 0.093 level is an every day occurance.

Personally, I think anyone driving while talking on a cell phone (or even worse, text messaging) is more distracted than a person who is at a 0.093 blood alcohol level. They could kill someone too. Heck, a stone cold sober person who looks down to change radio stations could rear-end someone and kill them. Any person driving at 12am is probably tired and has about the same level of impaired reflexes. Cars are dangerous devices.

Should he have driven? Obviously not based on the letter of the law. But given all the good things that LaRussa does for charity, I'm willing to let the most minor of DUI's go. It was a mistake in judgement.

--P--

I was about to post a less-eloquent message saying exactly this. Well-said, P.

[robbotis]

nm

I'm not trying to condone drunk driving. I know it is awful and kills too many people. But there is no difference between the accident rates of drunk drivers in states with the .08 and the ones that had .10.
The only thing the lower limit does is lock up and punish average citizens that made a monor mistake. The majority of the time your repeat offenders and serious problem drivers/drinkers, are going to be nowhere neither the .08 nor .10 limit.

[mcgee51taguchi99]

Passed out in a running vehicle and he only blew a .093? That seems odd.

My thoughts as well.

Probably more tired than drunk. Still shouldn't be on the road. Bad news.

By the time they took his level -- at the station after he had been passed out, after he had been field tested, after he got in and was processed -- it was at least an hour after he'd got behind the wheel, probably 90 min to 2 hours. He was probably .125 or more when they found him . . .

Ummm, that's the way it occurs for every DUI, so I'm not sure of your point.

[Hungary Jack]

Seriously folks, .093 is not driving "drunk". It's driving buzzed, and I'm guessing 90%+ of this forum has driven a vehicle at this level or above, and haven't been caught. If he had 2-3 glasses of wine at a late dinner, he could have blown this. I'm also guessing that Whitey Herzog drove back from multiple fishing outings far more "drunk" than .093.

The reason for being "passed out" I'm personally guessing is an adverse reaction with some medication.

Fired? Retire? Come on. It's an honest mistake that I hope none of us on here ever have to go through.

--P--

True, I mean at least he didn't pull a Leonard Little (oh snap)....but then again TLR is under a different microscope than Little.

Good grief. You cannot put qualifiers around an action like this in an attempt to mitigate it's seriousness. If the charges are true, then TLR broke the law just as much as any other idiot who drinks too much and drives. This is a huge lapse in judgement, and he put other people at risk by getting behind the wheel. Thankfully nothing worse happened (Leonard Little).

[Popeye_Card]

Personally, I think anyone driving while talking on a cell phone (or even worse, text messaging) is more distracted than a person who is at a 0.093 blood alcohol level.

Statistics have shown that someone talking on their cell phone while driving is definitely just as likely and perhaps even more likely to cause/have an accident than someone over the legal limit, yes.

So let's say Palm Beach County has a cell phone law like the city of Chicago, or many states out East, and LaRussa gets pulled over for talking on his cell phone while driving. Do we crucify him the same? Do we still view him as a man recklessly driving a dangerous weapon?

I know the whole "passed out at the wheel" thing makes this sound much worse than it is, but .093 is not enough alcohol to make one pass out. It has to be either sheer exhaustion (which would have been bad in itself, but yes alcohol makes it worse) or an adverse combination with some medication. Again, could happen to any of us.

--P--

[a_smith]

I'm with Popeye here. There are worse things in the world to have done. As an offense, its pretty dumb and stupid for Larussa to have done this, but it is minor.

As for the cell phone and the drunk driving. Both cause impared ability to drive.
FWIW- The show "mythbusters" did a test on people driving under the influence and talking on cell-phones. The cell phone driver was very close to the drunk driver.

[businessmansspecial]

I'm glad no one got hurt.

He isn't going anywhere.

How do you keep the brake down and sleep?

We'll see if the charges stick.