Remember the La-Z-Boy DWI story Pesco blogged earlier this week? A local paper reports that the lounger is headed for eBay. See also this update at Smoking Gun on the case of Dennis LeRoy Anderson, who drank "eight or nine beers" before driving the motorized lounger into the street and smashing it into a parked car. Snip:
Anderson's customized vehicle, seen in the police evidence photos on the following pages, is powered by an eight horsepower Kohler lawnmower engine, and has a stereo, headlights, a built-in cup holder, and a "Hell Yeah It's Fast" bumper sticker. The ride, however, does not have a seat belt.Proctor Police Chief Walter Wobig described Anderson as a "super-nice guy." The cops say they'll soon put the man's cherished chair up for sale on eBay, under state forfeiture laws (auctioning it off was one option, the other was using it for official police business, LOL). If anyone can find the eBay listing once it goes live, I'd sure love to see it -- and, hey, maybe bid on it.
Related articles: Proctor Journal, BBC, Duluth News Tribune, Wired.
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Ahh, forfeiture laws... Theft under color of law.
Truly this is the American Dream.
I thought the Police can only seize for auction vehicles used in a felony or drug related.
Last time I checked, alcohol was a drug.
They should have tarted it up as a DARE vehicle.
I hope the high-bidder gives it back to the guy. It sucks that they took it from him in the first place.
@mark: +1.
Can't say I have any sympathy for him. Drunk driving is indefensible, even on a chair.
What about drunk walking, apoxia?
We took someone's property away from him -- permanently, as we're about to sell it to the highest bidder -- based solely on accusations. No judge or jury involved. No day in court.
Cop accuses, takes property, sells property to support more accusations. It's a sickening policy.
pmocek, welcome to the NEW USA. rights? feh. you were wrong, the LAW has judged you, and now we are selling your stuff to generate revenue.
unless, of course, you have a LOT of money. then your lawyers will work it out, you will keep your high dollar mercedes, and get to do MORE drunk driving.... ms hilton/lohan/etc etc
will it ever change here? yeah, eventually, someone will remember the declaration of independence, and why they left England...
http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/document/index.htm
I look forward to seeing an investment banker getting their mansion on Nantuket stolen^H^H^H^H^H^Hforfitted under the law for falsifying mortgage applications.
Ugh, forfeiture laws are the reason why cops don't want to give up the WOD. Who doesn't want free stuff?
Well Mark, I know that drunk walking is a substantial factor that leads to the higher death rates in men aged 18-24 in pedestrian versus car accidents. The thing here is that the drunk walker is not likely to hurt anyone else. Riding a motor-propelled vehicle can indeed hurt other people (and the person driving it). Interestingly, in New Zealand is not not illegal to bicycle drunk, but a person can be given an infringement notice for dangerous use of a vehicle if they drive badly because they are drunk.
I've got my eye on the PA speakers in the back. How drunk do you have to be for them to take your speakers?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/La-z-boy-DWI-Chair-Motorized-Chair-lazy-boy_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQhashZitem23039d0147QQitemZ150384476487QQptZOtherQ5fVehiclesQ5fEverythingQ5fElse
Well, this guy is disabled and so his chair serves as his legs. Unless the police start chopping off the legs of drunk walkers they shouldn't take this gent's motor-propelled chair, either. I hope the ACLA sues the cops for violating the ADA.
Well I didn't know he was disabled. Presumably if he has a case, it will be made. I know quite a bit about driving and law since it's one of the main facets of my current studies. I know that mobility scooters are not registered in New Zealand and therefore do not require a licence to ride, the same is true for motorized wheelchairs. Hence, I would expect they would fall under the same category as bicycles in terms of not being enforceable for drink driving. I would also assume that people could receive infringement notices for riding them in a hazardous manner. Running into a parked car would be considered hazardous driving, and perhaps that is where they are coming from.
I can't see from the story why he was driving it on the road. I would presume this would also be frowned upon if it is not a registered vehicle.
ok apoxia, but does any of that hazard justify taking his stuff and selling it for a profit?
I dunno, I presume there is widespread knowledge of this law? Ethical questions can't really be couched in black and white terms, and I certainly don't have enough information about these particular circumstances to make those judgments.
A law recently passed in New Zealand that allows the cars of "boy racers" (young men with expensive Japanese cars who modify the exhausts to be very loud and who speed up and down city streets, sometimes doing burnouts and donuts) to have their cars confiscated and crushed - not even sold. Most of these young men owe at least $10,000 on these cars and get no compensation. Is that a good way to deal with the problem? Probably not. But governments and law enforcers don't generally delve any deeper than populist quick-fix approaches to problems.
I asked the following question and received the following response. Both are now posted in the auction listing:
Q: Has the owner of this chair had his day in court, or did you confiscate his property from him -- that which you are now selling for profit -- based solely on the accusation of wrongdoing?
A: Yes, the owner has had a chance to contest the forfeiture (due process). We are a government agency and the law dictates when forfeitures must occur. MN law also determines where the proceeds MUST go.
He's disabled? And they still took the chair?
Where is the thread for outrage re: forfeiture laws? I'm still slack jawed that this has been allowed to happen. That it's for "drug related crimes" is even more mind boggling.
don't give these rats your money
I'd buy it, and then on Halloween I'd dress up as the creator of the Daleks, Davros, and tool around getting candy and saying--"Exterminate! Exterminate! Destroy!"
I'm going to add my voice to the chorus and say that what's happening is incredibly unjust, even if it's sadly become typical behavior for law enforcement.
The fifth amendment of the US Constitution says "nor shall any person...be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law".
How on earth can you read that and not see that it clearly bans drug forfeiture?
what a lovely christmas present for stephen hawking.
What has law enforcement in
this country come too?
It is unfortunate that POLICE has become the “special olympics” of employment.
This THINK FORFEITURE mentality goes beyond DUI—
It results in arresting fifteen year olds for
crossing the street on a mini-bike. Or arresting
cross country skiers on a downhill trail for exceeding the “snow
mobile” speed limit.
I actually had a sheriff deputy in Canandaigua, NY
attempt to arrest me for exceeding the 35mph lake
speed limit. I was in my SAILBOAT. I had a
Naval Engineer give them a call and point out that
the maximum hull speed of the boat in question was
6 knots (~7mph)!!! A 23 ft sailboat cannot go faster than that
because of the displacement hull. It would need
to break the physical laws of the universe. The
geniuses on the marine division (trained professionals?) did not know
this!!!
WHATS NEXT??—- ARRESTING A GERIATRIC PATIENT IN THEIR
MOTORIZED “E-Z GO “CHAIR ON THE CROSSWALK? ARREST
THE SHRINERS IN THE PARADE ON THEIR MINI-BIKES because they are doing their figure eight at 25mph in a 20 MPH zone?
DISGRACEFUL!!!
Somehow I managed to read a whole bunch about this story and not realize the man was disabled.
PGuh, I hate gloatin' copper photos like the one in this post... they're so I dunno... Abu Ghraib-y.
Under the law, what happens to intoxicated disabled people when they cannot control the functions of their prosthetics, chairs, etc?
This whole "DUI" aspect strikes me as odd... It's one thing to pilot a thousand pound chunk of iron while intoxicated, but with a case like this I'd suspect the rider and the chair itself would take dozens of times the amount of damage as whatever they hit.. It's like treating a tricycle the same as a bulldozer.
Sure, if he's drunk in public, causing damage to things, he should probably be charged with public intoxication, reckless endangerment, and some civil charges about the property he's damaged, but seriously, how does this fit under the same bracket as DUI?
Hmm.
The ebay listing has a link where you can report the listing, for various reasons. One of which is "stolen property." Hmm.
Actually, I don't know that he is disabled. I thought I'd read that he had a bad foot but now I can't find where I read that.
"Ethical questions can't really be couched in black and white terms"
Sometimes they can.
Theft is always wrong.
Do you think that isn't black and white?
Is it always wrong to steal medicine to save your spouse or child's life?
http://www.creditbloggers.com/2009/09/would-you-steal-medicine-to-save-your-spouses-life.html
The self-referential recursive loop here burnt out all my irony nodes!
I think you might have been better off saying "sometimes things are not as amenable to simple solutions as we'd like them to be". Then you wouldn't sound so obtuse.
Forfeiture by law, with profit going to the persons who decide on the legitimacy of the forfeiture, is inherently unethical. Forfeiture without jury deliberation is even worse.