From: cdhart@laurie.net (Carolyn Hart)
Subject: SNET: [piml] [Fwd: Column March 2 -- seizing cars of drunk drivers]
Date: 2 Mar 1999 06:05:47 -0500
To: piml@egroups.com


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Vin Suprynowicz wrote:
> 
>     FROM MOUNTAIN MEDIA
>     FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE DATED MARCH 2, 1999
>     THE LIBERTARIAN, By Vin Suprynowicz
>     Seizing cars of accused drunks is dangerous
> 
>     New York City Police made good on Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's threat late
> last month,  putting into effect their new policy of seizing the
> automobiles of those arrested and charged with driving under the influence.
> 
>   The first accused party so deprived of his property was one Francisco
> Almonte, 47, an unemployed chef who -- cops told the New York Post -- has
> been arrested eight times before for being drunk behind the wheel.
> 
>   Police nabbed Almonte after he got into a minor fender-bender a few
> blocks from his home in Queens. Police said he appeared drunk and that a
> Breathalyzer showed he had a blood alcohol level of 0.19 percent -- well
> above the legal limit of 0.10.
> 
>   A check of Motor Vehicles records showed Almonte owned the 1987 Toyota
> Celica he was driving -- book value about $650. So, police seized it.
> 
>   Under the new initiative -- which one critic said is being used to
> deflect public attention from the recent New York police shooting death of
> an unarmed West African immigrant -- cars belonging to alleged drunken
> drivers will be immediately seized, leaving the owners to sue in civil
> court at their own expense should they seek to get them back.
> 
>   Needless to say, towing and storage charges can often exceed the value of
> a used car under such circumstances -- making such efforts financially
> self-defeating. And Mayor Giuliani upped the ante on Feb. 22 -- the day
> after the seizures started -- saying the city intends to keep some vehicles
> even if drivers are cleared of criminal charges.
> 
>   The mayor justifies the new procedure as "taking potentially lethal cars
> out of the hands of drunks." Indeed, he lucked out with his officers' first
> arrest, a seeming poster boy for the ineffectiveness of previous methods of
> drunk-driving enforcement.
> 
>   But New York Civil Liberties chief Normal Siegel blasted the move as
> unconstitutional, adding "I think this is being done at this point in time
> to deflect some of the focus on police brutality."
> 
>   Indeed, Mayor Giuliani's initiative, no matter how popular it may prove
> in the short run, is a naked attack on American traditions -- not to
> mention Constitutional guarantees -- of property rights and due process.
> 
>   Thus do we see the civil asset seizure laws -- which we were previously
> assured would apply only to the yachts and mansions of otherwise
> untouchable drug lords -- percolating down to be used against the average
> Joe, who may need his $1,600 Acura (the second vehicle seized -- from a
> janitor who reportedly tested 0.11) to put food on the table.
> 
>   Nor are the Prohibitionists ever satisfied. No sooner did Washington
> state recently roll back the "blood alcohol limit" from .10 to .08, but a
> lawmaker there has now proposed that licenses be seized from drivers who
> test (start ital)between(end ital) .02 and .08.
> 
>   But the main point here is that Mayor Giuliani's men are seizing the
> property -- which could amount to a fine of tens of thousands of dollars,
> in the case of a newer car -- of defendants who have not had their day in
> court, violating any semblance of our American tradition of due process or
> proportionality of punishment.
> 
>   Surely honest mistakes are made from time to time -- a cop assuming a
> driver is drunk, when in fact he or she is suffering a diabetic attack? A
> malfunctioning breath machine? A teetotaler who didn't realize there was
> alcohol (or something even stronger) in that cough syrup?
> 
>   Yet the mayor vows to keep the cars even of (start ital)those who are
> cleared?(end ital)
> 
>   Yes, the criminal courts are crowded. The solution is to build more (it's
> one of the few constitutional things they can do with our tax money), and
> in the meantime stop trying to enforce unconstitutional edicts against
> consensual commerce including drug sales, prostitution, and firearm
> possession by otherwise law-abiding citizens.
> 
>   But once we tolerate this bypassing of the criminal courts (and with them
> their presumption of innocence) under the old assurance that "It's a more
> efficient way to clear the streets," what's next? Seizing all civilian
> weapons on sight -- even those merely brandished to scare off a burglar?
> Seizing all the moneys that a "suspected criminal" manages to raise in
> hopes of hiring an attorney?
> 
>   Past the signpost labeled "greater police efficiency" descends a
> treacherous road, whose final destination I thought we had already spent
> too much of this century examining.
> 
>   Or must we look forward to someday storming the beaches of Nassau and New
> Rochelle in a tragic replay of General Eisenhower's great crusade of 50
> years past, paying once again in blood to restore the basic rights of a
> people who forgot to stand up and protest when a petty local potentate
> promised to clear the streets of rabble, and make the trains run on time?
> 
> Vin Suprynowicz is the assistant editorial page editor of the Las Vegas
> Review-Journal. His new book, "Send in the Waco Killers," was released by
> Mountain Media March 1, 1999. Subtitled "Essays on the Freedom Movement,
> 1993-1998," the 500-page trade paperback is available at $21.95 per copy
> plus $3 shipping ($6 for expedited delivery within a week; $2 shipping per
> each additional copy) through Mountain Media, P.O. Box 4422, Las Vegas,
> Nev. 89127-4422. Orders are also being taken via web site
> http://www.thespiritof76.com/wacokillers.html, or toll free at
> 1-800-244-2224. Credit cards accepted; volume discounts available.
> 
> ***
> 
> Vin Suprynowicz,   vin@lvrj.com
> 
> The evils of tyranny are rarely seen but by him who resists it. -- John
> Hay, 1872
> 
> The most difficult struggle of all is the one within ourselves. Let us not
> get accustomed and adjusted to these conditions. The one who adjusts ceases
> to discriminate between good and evil.  He becomes a slave in body and
> soul. Whatever may happen to you, remember always: Don't adjust! Revolt
> against the reality! -- Mordechai Anielewicz, Warsaw, 1943
> 
> * * *

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