New Jersey taxes its residents more than almost any other state in the nation. It really is silly, so citizens love to hear about those rare occasions when their tax dollars appear to be working efficiently. Such as last week, when a Readington Township patrolman was able to pull over a single car and produce three legitimate DUI arrests.
Our story starts with Carmen Reategui. According to NJ.com:
Patrolman Patrick Brown stopped a car for swerving on Route 22 east at Route 523. The vehicle was driven by Carmen Reategui, 34, of Whitehouse Station.
Brown had Reategui perform a series of standardized field sobriety tests, which she failed, police said. Reategui was arrested and taken to headquarters for processing. She ended up charged with driving while under the influence of alcohol, failure to stay in her lane and failure to provide a vehicle insurance card.
Her night of bad decisions didn’t stop there. Reatequi then called Nina Petracca, 23, who was arguably in a worse state when she arrived to pick up her friend. At the police station. Where she would be interacting with and surrounded by police.
Petracca said she had driven to headquarters and Serrone noticed that Petracca displayed signs of intoxication so he had her do sobriety tests in the lobby of the building and she failed. Petracca was arrested on a DUI charge and a later search of her purse revealed seven Vicodin in an unlabeled container, police said. She was then also charged with possession of Vicodin and driving while in possession of a controlled dangerous substance.
The duo then decided to call Ryan Hogan for a ride. I think you can guess how that went.
Once he arrived at the station, Sgt. Carlos Ferreiro asked him how he arrived, and he stated that he drove. As the officer explained the potential liability form to Hogan, Ferreiro detected the odor of alcohol coming from him and noticed that he, too, appeared to be drunk, police said.
After Hogan failed sobriety tests, he was also charged with DWI.
You don’t say.
The trio later managed to call someone who was actually sober (or, we can presume at this point, just better at hiding it). They will appear in court in January, where officers will be armed with all of the state’s breathalyzers.
[via NJ.com; Photo via Getty Image]