<p>Hi, I didn’t know where else to post this.
I was arrested on new years eve and am being charged for being drunk and underage (I’m 20) and “battery against emergency personnel.” Basically what happened was I started seizing and quit breathing so my friends called the ambulance and I didn’t want to go with them. They were irritated after dealing with drunk people all night and I was just going to go back inside the house. On my way in I flailed my arms and kind of pushed the paramedic. She didn’t even stumble because I barely pushed her, she was also not mad. It was her partner who had me arrested.
My bail bonds lady thinks the case will be dropped because I am a good student, I have no priors, I was drunk and don’t remember anything, etc. What I’m most concerned about is: will this effect my future career? I’m almost finished with my BA in psychology and was planning to go to graduate school for clinical psychology. I wanted to work with severely disturbed patients.
I am a good person, a good student, I would never intentionally harm someone, I won’t be drinking anymore, and I have no previous record. If these charges are dropped is this going to hurt me?</p>
<p>Tell your parents about this if you haven’t already. Get a lawyer now. Don’t talk to anyone–let your attorney handle this. A lawyer might be able to make this whole thing disappear–you don’t want it on your record. Battery on a cop or medical person is serious stuff…it won’t disappear by itself…get legal advice. A bail bondsman is not an attorney and can’t give you legal advice.</p>
<p>Your charges haven’t been dropped.</p>
<p>You need to show up to court on the date that is specified. You will know then whether the charges are dropped or not. If not, then you will need to either request a court-appointed lawyer or ask for additional time to hire your own lawyer.</p>
<p>If you can afford it, it would be worthwhile to hire an experienced lawyer right away, rather than waiting for the court date. The prosecutor who makes the decision about whether to proceed on the charges doesn’t know about your GPA or career plans, and being drunk & not remembering is not a defense to the charge – on the contrary, it makes the prosecution’s case very strong. (You obviously are guilty of the underage drinking part, and the fact that you “don’t remember” means that you can’t really testify very credibly about what happened when you “barely pushed” the paramedic). A lawyer would give you better advice than the bail bonds woman, and it is possible that a lawyer would be able to negotiate on your behalf before charges are filed.</p>
<p>Once the case is filed, it is unlikely to be “dropped”, although there may be other options available that will result in a favorable disposition without a record of conviction.</p>
<p>Get an experienced lawyer now. This type of charge/ conviction can impact your future eligibility to get licensed in a medical field.</p>
<p>Yes, you need a lawyer.</p>
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<p>You were seizing, you even quit breathing, and you were able to suddenly get up and make your way over to the house? You didn’t need to be hospitalized for alcohol poisoning after a respiratory arrest and seizure activity?</p>
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<p>If you don’t remember anything, how can you expect anyone to believe you know better than the paramedic whether or not you “barely pushed her”?</p>
<p>This whole story seems completely unlikely to me.</p>
<p>Yes, get a lawyer. Years ago on the 4th of July, my S got arrested for resisting arrest (he ran when he saw the cop coming)/underage drinking. We hired a lawyer right away. The charges were dropped after he did the court ordered 50 hours of community service.</p>
<p>You need the best attorney you can get.</p>
<p>But, if I were you, the thing I would be most concerned with is that you had a blackout. Blackout drinking is a sign of alcoholism, and you should maybe get yourself evaluated, particularly since the type of personality change you describe is also a sign of alcoholism.</p>
<p>Get some help legally and, maybe, medically as well.</p>
<p>The sooner you tell your parents, the better. If the address you were booked under is your home address, it probably won’t be long before lawyers will be sending mail to that address suggesting that they can be of service to you. Take it from me…that is not a good way for them to find out.</p>
<p>After you tell them, get an attorney ASAP.</p>
<p>This is serious. Get a lawyer right away.</p>
<p>Oh, and thank your friends for calling the ambulance. They did the right thing.</p>
<p>Yes, you should get an attorney and you should tell your parents. Though it may not be any big problem, it could also bloom into one. Also you don’t know what sort of job and school apps you will be filling in the next 5-10 years. Friend of mine’s DD had to go through some expense and trouble when a flag came up during a check when she was taking the bar exam. Same sort of issue from undergrad days. Better to get it cleaned up now rather than when you might be under a time constraint and when something important is riding on it.</p>
<p>Do you recognize that this was a very serious episode of binge drinking? Do you understand the health consequences, both physical and mental? You drank until the point that you suffered severe alcohol poisoning symptoms. Seizures, confusion, etc. could have been deadly. You need to seek counseling, you are studying for a BA in psychology? This will not be taken lightly by the judicial system.</p>
<p>I was drunk and don’t remember anything</p>
<p>then you really can’t say how hard you pushed the paramedic. </p>
<p>You have to be careful with what you say. If you say that you dont’ remember anything, then you can’t claim that you didn’t do XXXXXX.</p>
<p>^^^^ Read my mind.</p>
<p>Believability factor = zero.</p>
<p>go easy on the alcohol</p>
<p>I’m aware that this kind of drinking is not good. I didn’t say that I do it all the time, nor that I will continue drinking this way.
What I wrote was what I was told, no need for people on here who are going to say, “it isn’t believable.”
Also, my parents already know. They were informed by my friends when the ambulance was coming.
I never said the charges were dropped…I asked “if.”</p>
<p>I can’t really afford a lawyer, and am being assigned a public defender. </p>
<p>(This is in California, if that matters at all.)</p>
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The title of your post says otherwise. That’s why posters responded as they did. And they are saying that the story isn’t believable because of how it will sound to a judge.</p>
<p>My son’s friend got a disorderly persons charge for being underage and drunk in public while in college. They graduated 2 years ago and he has yet to be able to find a job because it has to be disclosed on job applications. Get a lawyer ASAP.<br>
And you came on the parent forum to ask our advice, maybe you shouldn’t get mad at what you’re being told, you should listen. You are being told “it’s not believable”, because your account if full of contradictions that a lawyer will jump all over. Whether it’s what you remember or what your friends told you is irrelevant. If you are saying it, it will be construed as your account of the incident.</p>
<p>It’d be nice if you could find an attorney who knows or has a friend who knows the emergency medical technician (EMT) who you were charged with hitting to see right now if they’ll drop the charge. I’m not an attorney and you don’t want to get hit with a witness tampering charge too, BUT ask your public defender asap if you can get this whole deal to disappear and thrown out. It will be a slam dunk for state attorney if he gets uniformed EMT in court saying you hit her/him. It will be your word against the uniformed EMT’s word.</p>