Driving While Intoxicated Case Law Update - Texas District ...

vehicle, parked on shoulder of roadway, facing wrong direction, smelled of alcohol, and failed or
refused various sobriefy fesfs.
Claiborne v. State, 2005 WL 2100458 (Tex.App.-Fort Worth , 2005, no pet.) (Not designated for
publication).
Wifnesses saw appellant's car being driven erratically. One wifness saw appellant walking away
from the driver's side door minutes after he saw the car being driven. Additionally, appellant walked
awayfrom police officers and into a grocery store afterthe police called outto him. Afterthe officers
found appellant, he led them to the car that witnesses had seen driving erraticatty. tJnder fhese
facts, the Court held that there was sufficient proof that the defendant "operated" a motor vehicle.
Newellv. State, 2005 WL 2838539, (Tex.App.- Fort Worth ,2005, no pet.) (not designated for
publication).
At 3:05 a.m., police officersfound defendant asleep in the driver's seat of hisvehicle with the engine
running, the gear in "park,"the headlights on, and his foot on the brake pedal. The car was on the
shoulder of the l-20 ramp directly over the southbound lanes of Great Soufhwesf Parkway, an area
where it is generally unsafe to park. Upon awakening the defendant, it was determined he was
intoxicated. Defendant claimed that there was insufficient proof of operating the vehicle because
no witness saw defendant drive the vehicle to the location or knew how long he had been parked
there, how long he had been intoxicated, or if anyone else had driven the car. Court of Appeals held
evidence was sufficient. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has held that "ft1to find operation
under [the DWI] standard, the totality of the circumstances musf demonstrate that the defendant
took action to affect the functioning of [the ] vehicle in a manner that would enable the vehicle's use."
Although driving always involves operation of a vehicle, operation of a vehicle does not necessarily
always involve driving.
Peters v. Texas Department of Public Safety, 2005 WL 3007783 (Tex.App.-Dallas 2005, no
pet.XNot designated for publication).
Suspecf found asleep in driver's seat of a car parked in a field near highway ftontage road (record
does not speak to whether car was running). lt took several aftempts to wake suspecf who was
obserued to have bloodshot eyes, slurred speech, and odor of alcohol. Officer noted there was
damage to front end of car. Defendant admitted he had been drinking all night. Refused to do FSIs
and refused to give breath sample. The above was held to be sufficient probable cause to arrest
suspecf for DWI.
Benedict v. State,2004 WL 2108837, (Tex.App.-Fort Worth, 2004, pet. ref'd).
Citizen called dispatch regarding susprbrbus vehicle parked in roadway for almost two hours with
ifs /lghts on. The vehicle was stopped in the roadway with rts keys in the ignition and in drive. The
two front tires were on rims. When officer arrived, he obserued that the car was in a lane of traffic
up against an island rnedian, the engine was running, the car was in gear, the headlights were on,
and appellant's foot was on the brake. The officer testified that damage she observe d on the car's
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