Sergeant Charged with DUI in NH Gets No Trial

It has been a difficult year for former police officer Daniel Crevier, who now resides in New Hampshire. Formerly with the North Andover Police Department, Crevier was accused of crashing an unmarked police cruiser while in Pennsylvania. He received three different DUI-related charges in the state. It appears Crevier will not go to trial. His case was accepted for a program unique to Pennsylvania – Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition (ARD) — a pre-trial intervention program for non-violent offenders with little or no prior record.

After the September 2016 DUI incident, his case spent more than a year in Pennsylvania courts being adjudicated. He had been in Pennsylvania for a training seminar and went for a drink with a fellow officer from his department. He was accused of crashing the cruiser “into a construction vehicle parked away from the main roadway and left the scene without notifying local police.” According to police reports, he registered a .219 BAC. Despite these factors, which could have meant harsher sentencing if the prosecution prevailed, Crevier was approved for the innovative ARD program, “provided he consume no alcoholic beverages, pay fines associated with his case — assessed at $2,361.80 — and complete an alcohol safe driving course.”

Alternative sentencing options like Pennsylvania’s ARD are a commendable alternative to the traditional and arduous DUI/DWI process, especially for first-time offenders. A DUI or DWI charge is extremely costly and embarrassing for those charged, many of whom do not fit the profile of the public image of a “DUI offender.” Many upstanding individuals have found themselves ensnared in DWI charges in New Hampshire.

A conviction can have devastating effects on their professional and academic prospects. They are set up to pay the price for a single mistake potentially for years to come. This is why alternative sentencing options are so valuable to the accused. They allow for a more evenhanded approach that emphasizes anti-DUI efforts through education and rehabilitation as opposed to the creation of lifelong consequences and the inescapable shadow of a DUI conviction. Many times, people are simply guilty of misreading their own bodies and discerning their impairment level. What the law considers “too impaired to drive” may not be the objective level at which absolutely anyone is too impaired to drive.

ALTERNATIVE SENTENCING FOR DWI IN NEW HAMPSHIRE

A 2014 document released by the NH State government explored DWI facts and potential resolutions. If found that one thing the government can do “[t]o reduce repeat offenders, [is to]leverage other alternative sentencing including drug courts, and intensive and supportive probation supervision combined with substance use disorder treatment.” Employing an alternative sentencing program for DWI offenses specifically may expedite the process for first-time offenders looking to simply put the charge behind them.

NEW HAMPSHIRE DWI ATTORNEY

If you have been charged with DWI, immediately contact the attorneys at Tenn And Tenn, P.A. for a free consultation of your charges.