Pubdate: Tue, 23 Feb 1999
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 1999 The New York Times Company
Contact:  http://www.nytimes.com/
Forum: http://forums.nytimes.com/comment/
Author:   MICHAEL COOPER

NEW POLICY REMAINS A WORK IN PROGRESS

As New York City began seizing the cars of people arrested on
drunken-driving charges, police officials and lawyers studied the new policy
Monday to figure out exactly how it would work and whose cars could be kept
for resale.

The most clear-cut of cases, officials said, is when the driver charged with
drunken driving is the registered owner of the vehicle. In those cases the
car will definitely be seized.

But other situations are murkier.

Take the case of a teen-ager arrested for drunken driving in a car
registered to his mother. If the teen-ager can establish that he borrowed
the family car and that his mother had no idea he would be drinking,
officials said, the car will eventually be returned. But if it appears that
the teen-ager was the primary user of the car, it might well be sold.

Leased cars will also be seized and kept, though Robert Messner, the
executive managing attorney of the Police Department's Civil Enforcement
Unit, said the city would return most leased cars to the leasing companies.
But he said that the drivers of seized leased cars would probably still be
required to pay off the terms of their leases.

Rental cars will not be seized. Messner said that they might be held briefly
in case they are needed as evidence, but that they would eventually be
returned to the rental companies.

Taxis and livery cabs will be seized when the owner is charged with drunken
driving or if the owner was aware that the car would be driven by someone
drunk.

The police will also seize private automobiles if they can show that the
owner knowingly allowed the driver to operate the vehicle while drunk. Those
cases are easiest to prove, police officials said, when the owner is a
passenger -- and such seizures would also eliminate the possibility that
when two companions are drunk, the owner can circumvent the law by having
the other person drive.

Only people arrested for driving while intoxicated -- and found to have a
blood alcohol level of .10 or higher -- will have their cars seized.

People arrested on the lesser charge of driving while impaired -- meaning
their blood alcohol level was between .06 and .09 -- will have their cars
returned.

Once an arrest for drunken driving is made and a car is seized, two
processes begin: the criminal case against the driver and the city's civil
case to take ownership of the car.

For the criminal case, the suspect is brought back to the station house and
given a Breathalyzer test on videotape.

If a driver refuses to be tested, that refusal is videotaped and the
driver's license will be suspended. His car can still be seized, officials
said.

The civil case is separate. The Civil Enforcement Unit must begin
proceedings to have a car legally forfeited within 25 days of the time a
driver asks for his car back from the Police Department's Property Clerk.

Hessner said that a civil action could take anywhere from days to years.

The city may agree to give back cars to people who can make a good case in
court for their return, he said.

Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani said that someone acquitted of driving drunk in a
criminal case still might not get his car back, because the standard of
proof the city must meet in a civil case is lower then the standard in a
criminal one.

- ---
MAP posted-by: Don Beck