<p>So yeah, my friends and I are all 17 or 18 and we recently had a party where alcohol was being served. Anyway, the cops came and busted it up and basically we didn't get in trouble at all b/c they cops were really lax.</p>
<p>Except, my one friend, who is 18, freaked out when she heard the sirens so she ran to her car to hide. In the midst of hiding in her car she decided that she was sober enough to drive home. Unfortunately, she got pulled over by the cops and cited for a DUI. Her BAC was .046 and the legal limit for those under the age of 21 is .02. So basically, she will be found guilty of driving under the influence. </p>
<p>At this point (considering that she is an AP student who has never been in trouble in her life) she is only facing community service, a license suspension and a fine from the legal system. But she will be attending college in the fall on a full academic scholarship. Can the college take away her scholarship because of her DUI? If they take it away then she can't afford to go to college.</p>
<p>I decided to post here because I figured that the parents would be more knowledgeable about this stuff...</p>
<p>the college is Ohio state. and yeah, i realize life is about choices and at the same time that it is really sad that she got a DUI, it is a warning for the future (i'm positive that none of them are ever going to drink again- i didn't drink because alcohol isn't my thing)</p>
<p>Different scholarships have different policies. I don't get why her friends let her drive home without asking if she was alright to drive, seeing as she drank that night. Even if she was okay to drive, someone should have at least checked.</p>
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i realize life is about choices and at the same time that it is really sad that she got a DUI
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<p>Testing for understanding here....</p>
<p>Are you basically saying that it was ok for her to be drinking underage and behind the wheel of a car and it simply sucks (or in your words sad ) that she got caught doing so?</p>
<p>Was it ok that a group of minors had alcohol to begin with? Whose parents allowed the serving of alcohol in their home (or perhaps the parents were out for the evening and everything took on a life of its own).</p>
<p>It is really very fortunate that she did not get into an accident and hurt herself or someone else while behind the wheel and under the influence especially when it seems like this time of year there is no shortage of stories in the news about people getting killed by people in the same situation as your friend.</p>
<p>well, i personally wasn't there, (i went home a few hours prior to the police arriving). but i guess that when the cops came everyone sort of scattered. someone hid the garage and everyone else ran outside. she just ran to her car and got in and drove away. and the police said that she was very polite and she passed all of those tests (like where you walk in a straight line). the only evidence that she was drunk was the Breathalyzer test.</p>
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Are you basically saying that it was ok for her to be drinking underage and behind the wheel of a car and it simply sucks (or in your words sad ) that she got caught doing so?
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i wasn't saying that at all. my words were grouped incorrectly. what i meant was "at the same time that it is really sad that she got a DUI, it is a warning for the future" the first part, "i realize life is about choices" is a completely different thought. i should have used a period. and according to what everyone has told me, (i left around midnight and the police came around 3:30 so i wasn't there) the drinking stopped around midnight because they ran out of alcohol. so all of them were sobering up by the time the police came. in fact, my one friend was sober enough to convince the police she hadn't been drinking, even though she was sloppy drunk when i left.</p>
<p>I'm pretty sure .046 isn't actually considered drunk. She just happens to be unlucky because of the zero-tolerance laws with regard to underage drinking. I believe .05 qualifies an adult for DUI if the adult is acting like he/she is under the influence. .08 is required for a DWI. Your friend is just really unlucky. Her having the car there suggests that she was going to drive home regardless of how drunk she was, though. I can't really criticize it, because on Long Island it's pretty rampant.</p>
<p>To Mini: we weren't sure if the courts would let the university know. so i guess not then and she obviously won't report it herself.</p>
<p>To Spanks: the plan was for her to spend the night and drive home in the morning. in fact, everyone was supposed to spend the night, but they all ran away. so the only person who ended up spending the night was the kid who hid in the garage.</p>
<p>Oh, that just sucks. We've learned that you never run from the cops. You just kiss their asses for a while and entertain their power trips. Your friend should read up on the scholarship, because I know that one that I have doesn't mention legal run-ins.</p>
<p>well, everyone else there knew not to run from the cops, but in the case that they had to, they had all previously scoped out hiding places (they do this illegal partying all the time, so they were pros at evading the police and law enforcement in general). it just so happened that this was my friend's first time drinking alcohol AND her first time attending a party of that magnitude. so it really sucks for her. i mean, she didn't even drink that much. but i understand that it is still against the law for her to consume any alcohol before age 21.</p>
<p>anyway, i'll tell her to read up on the scholarship to see if run-ins with the law would warrant it's loss.</p>
<p>Considering that alcohol related traffic accidents are the leading cause of death among teens, your friends are lucky if they ONLY lose a scholarship. </p>
<p>Stuff like this is so common and so sad. Sad because the consequences are so high. Sad because it gets worse in college.</p>
<p>Personally, I feel sorry for your friends, because it sounds like they don't get it yet. Alcohol kills.</p>
<p>Regarding what she should tell the school, the colleges ask if you have ever been convicted of a felony (please explain). I doubt that she will be charged with a felony, but she will have a record as a result of this incident.</p>
<p>Hotpiece,</p>
<p>While your friend may not see it now while she is panicing over the loss of her scholarship. I agree with Newmassdad, that if this is the worse that can happen, she has gotten off cheap. IF it is enough for her to seriously think about her actions and change her behaviors, than she should chalk it up as a gift.</p>
<p>The one thing you must realize is that these situations do not happen in a vacuum, and while she has never "gotten into trouble" (caught) this ma not have been her first time drinking , or drinking and getting behind the wheel. With the number of incidents in underage drinking in this country rising (especially for young women) we still have kids who think that alcohol poisoning, dui's, accidentally killing someone because you were impaired behind the wheel, or killing yourself are things that happen to other people. Had this incident happened on her campus, she could be brought up on diciplinary charges leading to her losing her scholarship in addition to be kicked out of school.</p>
<p>Consider the whole thing a hard valuable lesson learned.</p>
<p>I will keep my comments to the question of the OP and forego the discussion of a minor drinking.</p>
<p>I don't see the DUI violation impacting her scholarship at all. How would the college even know about it? I do not recall any pre-enrollment questioneer asking such questions and I seriously doubt that scholarship committees do background searches of its awardees.</p>
<p>Trust me sybbie, it was her first time drinking or ever breaking the law. because of the whole DUI issue she is never going to do it again. It is a harsh (considering that she wasn't drunk) lesson to learn, especially the first time, but it's better to learn it now than later.</p>
<p>and thanks for sparing me the "underage drinking" lecture, originaloog.</p>
<p>Yes, legal intoxication has a higher standard. Unfortunately, research has shown impairment occurs long before legal intoxication. Research has shown that many accidents occur with drivers that are not legally drunk, but have been drinking, hence the concept of impairment.</p>
<p>The situation is worse for teens because heavy drinkers do learn to compensate, although not well, for alcohol impairment. Teens will rarely have this experience, so their risk is greater than a simple blood alcohol level will show, hence the differing standards for teens in some states. </p>
<p>This is much less an underage issue than an experience and cultural issue, unfortunately.</p>
<p>This is why in HS you have to think "do I have something to lose?" with choices. Actually, before you do anything at anytime that could involve the law, you should ask yourself that question. Follows through into adult life. Some people get put in jail because it's a step up. </p>
<p>The FASFA asks about felonies, I don't think a DUI will count. She may want to give her parents a break and give up her license for her college years as I am sure their car insurance rates just blew through the roof. </p>
<p>As far as running away, try and walk away if possible. Sometimes the police can overreact. The college town my son attends, broke up a soccer house party with 8 cars, they proceeded to taser anyone who said anything, handcuffed and threw to the ground several people and basically are now waiting for the lawsuits to come in. So staying there may not be a good idea either. Depends on where your school is at. If it's at the corner of nowwhere and "you've got a purty mouff.." RUN. </p>
<p>Actually police cheif just changed over. New one is from a college town as has a better track record of interaction with students.</p>