DUI-Charged Rider Denies Steering Car

The Patriot News

August 1, 2006

By Joe Elias

Of Our Carlisle Bureau

“I think this is one of those quirky little cases,” McShane said. “I don’t think anybody imagined anything like this when the law was passed.”

With a blood alcohol content almost three times the level at which a driver may be charged, Derek Randall Pittman was too drunk to drive a car.

Even though he was a passenger in a friend’s car, the Carlisle man was arrested for driving under the influence.

A state trooper spotted the car Pittman was riding in swerving on state Route 11 in the west end of Carlisle on Dec. 26, arrest records state.

After the trooper pulled the Dodge over, he noticed a strong odor of alcohol coming from the vehicle and the driver holding a large sandwich with two hands, records state.

The alcohol odor wasn’t coming from the driver; it was coming from Pittman, police said.

When the trooper asked the driver why the car was swerving, Pittman leaned across the front seat and said it was his fault, police said.

Pittman explained to the trooper that he had briefly held onto the steering wheel while his friend was taking a bite of his sandwich, and the car swerved across the yellow line, records state.

Pittman was given two field sobriety tests, which he failed, and was arrested, records state.

Tests showed Pittman had a blood alcohol content of 0.225 percent, records state. A motorist may be charged with DUI with a blood alcohol content of 0.08 percent.

The man in the driver’s seat of the car was not arrested.

Pittman’s lawyer, Justin McShane, said the driver wasn’t tested for DUI.

“I think this is one of those quirky little cases,” McShane said. “I don’t think anybody imagined anything like this when the law was passed.”

McShane is asking a Cumberland County Commonwealth Court judge to throw out Pittman’s statement to the trooper and compel the district attorney’s office to show that his client was in control of the car.

The motion contends the trooper never saw Pittman’s hand on the steering wheel and is relying solely on his statement.

“We’ve always maintained that the driver never took his hand off the steering wheel and was in control of the car,” McShane said. “He knew what my client was doing.”

According to a motion filed by McShane, the district attorney is relying on a 1994 Pennsylvania court case in which an intoxicated passenger was prosecuted when he unexpectedly grabbed the steering wheel of a moving car and stepped on the gas pedal, causing the car to swerve toward another vehicle.

McShane said the case involving Pittman is different because the driver was aware of what his client was doing and there is no evidence the car swerved toward another vehicle.

According to court records, District Judge Jessica Brewbaker of the Carlisle area refused to sign the original arrest warrant for Pittman.

“I don’t believe there is probable cause to believe Mr. Pittman was in actual physical control of the vehicle,” Brewbaker told the trooper in a note that is part of the court record.

The district attorney’s office petitioned for permission to ask another district judge to sign an arrest warrant.

In February, County Judge Edgar B. Bayley granted that motion, and District Judge Vivian Cohick signed the second warrant.

Assistant District Attorney Christin Mehrtens-Carlin could not be reached for comment on this story.

A hearing on McShane’s motion is scheduled for Aug. 22 before Judge Edward E. Guido.

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