My buddy was harassed by the cops in a bar... for drinking!

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Apparently drinking in bars is now taboo in Texas. A buddy of mine was questioned by an undercover cop last week because he was in a bar drinking alcohol (imagine that!). The cop wanted to know how many drinks he had, if all those empty bottles on the table were his, etc.. Nevermind my buddy wasn't even driving and had a designated driver.

The TABC (Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission) is issuing citations for "public intoxication" to people in bars who are too drunk:
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/nation/3744380.html

This article says that you may be approached if "an officer spots them behaving erratically, such as having difficulty walking or standing." But my friend was just sitting on a stool minding his own business.

Personally I think this is being done to generate revenue - just another sin tax. If cops want to prevent drunken driving (which I'm all for), they need to wait outside of bars in the parking lot and observe and approach suspected drunks. Not to mention that most all bars are PRIVATE PROPERTY, so how can you be charged with PUBLIC intoxication??

When I worked in a grocery store we were told that the store is private property and the management can disallow anyone from entering. This was often enforced on shoplifters to prevent them from returning, and sometimes on bums too. If I were one of these bar owners where cops were harassing my customers, I'd throw the cop out of my private property!
 
Wow...

Those citations would so get thrown out by the prosecutor here before they even reached the court date printed on them.

Like you said, it is considered private property, unless it's a government owned bar. :) I'm not sure about the laws in Texas, but here the bar owner's could kick the cops out. I hope they fight those citations and win, because they're bullshit. Why can't the cops just wait a couple of hours until they leave the bar? You know, when it's actually LEGAL for them to write a citation for PUBLIC intoxication.

There is no law against drinking yourself stupid on private property. And the cops can't issue a legal citation on private property for public intox. unless, possibly, if the bar owner lets them in and asks them to do it. And you can't argue that they'll be leaving the bar with the same BAC because a lawyer could easily argue that the cops have no idea that by the time the guy leaves that his BAC will be over the legal limit.

This has to be terrible for business there.


EDIT: Looks like bars are considered public places in Texas by law. (See post by StrummerBS)

If it's a public place, you can be cited for public intox.
 
Well bars are supposed to cut off someone from drinking after they get so intoxicated. So that's why he was harrassing your friend.

Also bars that don't cooperate with cops, even annoying ones tend to have more trouble in down the road. Cops don't like it when they don't get what they want and can make life really hard on a bar owner.
 
Hmm... well another one bites the dust

list of potential cities I'll live in after graduating in May:

Ann Arbor, MI
Chicago, IL
Dallas, TX
Jacksonville, FL
Miami, FL
New Orleans, LA
San Diego, CA
 
I can only see two outcomes of this if it is continued. People will just start going to bars at another part of town/city altogether or they'll drink at home and not even bother with the bars. Either way I can only see this activity hurting business.
 
[quote name='GuyWithGun']Wow...

Those citations would so get thrown out by the prosecutor here before they even reached the court date printed on them.

Like you said, it is considered private property, unless it's a government owned bar. :) I'm not sure about the laws in Texas, but here the bar owner's could kick the cops out. I hope they fight those citations and win, because they're bullshit. Why can't the cops just wait a couple of hours until they leave the bar? You know, when it's actually LEGAL for them to write a citation for PUBLIC intoxication.

There is no law against drinking yourself stupid on private property. And the cops can't issue a legal citation on private property for public intox. unless, possibly, if the bar owner lets them in and asks them to do it. And you can't argue that they'll be leaving the bar with the same BAC because a lawyer could easily argue that the cops have no idea that by the time the guy leaves that his BAC will be over the legal limit.

This has to be terrible for business there.[/QUOTE]
I think it would be so easy to fight this in court. For one thing, it sounds like you aren't required to submit to a breathalizer in the bar, so how in the world can they determine your BAC? And if they are unable to determine your BAC, how do they know you are intoxicated??

Bar owners must be hating the hell out of this, because the only thing it's going to accomplish is convincing people that it's too risky to drink anywhere except your own home. Man, it's like prohibition is making a comeback or something... What's really amusing is the state of Texas didn't even have an open container law for motor vehicles until 2001!
 
Private property can legally be considered a public place. According to the case of Howard v. State, 174 S.W. 607 (Tex. App. 1915), a "a restaurant to which people commonly resort for the purpose of eating and purchasing refreshments" is a public place for purposes of the public intoxication statute. Thus, the police are within their juridisction to arrest or cite. The bar owners may ask that the police leave, but the article asserts that the police are given probable cause subpeonas to go into the bar, and thus could not be asked to leave.
 
[quote name='strummerbs']Private property can legally be considered a public place. According to the case of Howard v. State, 174 S.W. 607 (Tex. App. 1915), a "a restaurant to which people commonly resort for the purpose of eating and purchasing refreshments" is a public place for purposes of the public intoxication statute. Thus, the police are within their juridisction to arrest or cite. The bar owners may ask that the police leave, but the article asserts that the police are given probable cause subpeonas to go into the bar, and thus could not be asked to leave.[/quote]

Meh, just get trashed... act like you're hot for the police man, give him a hug, barf down his back and touch his gun. After the horrible beating he'll give you, try to run, when he hog-ties you, shit yourself, when he picks you up, piss yourself. When you get to jail, deny everything.
 
[quote name='evilpenguin9000']Well bars are supposed to cut off someone from drinking after they get so intoxicated.[/QUOTE]


That is one of the many jobs of bartender is to stop serving drunks and throw out the drunks.
 
[quote name='strummerbs']Private property can legally be considered a public place. According to the case of Howard v. State, 174 S.W. 607 (Tex. App. 1915), a "a restaurant to which people commonly resort for the purpose of eating and purchasing refreshments" is a public place for purposes of the public intoxication statute. Thus, the police are within their juridisction to arrest or cite. The bar owners may ask that the police leave, but the article asserts that the police are given probable cause subpeonas to go into the bar, and thus could not be asked to leave.[/QUOTE]
I have to wonder though if this applies to bars that have private "clubs". Most of the bars I've been to in the north Dallas area you have to be a "member" to drink. Whenever you order a drink they often ask for a driver license and add you to the computer as a member. Then they bring a printout that you have to sign. Membership is free at most of them, I think it's just a way that bars get around the dry county laws.

Edit: Looks like it does apply
Commission officials noted that being drunk in public is against the law and that any place licensed to serve booze is, by law, a public place – including restaurants in dry areas that sell so-called private memberships to let patrons drink.
 
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yay texas yaaayyy!
 
[quote name='Zenithian Legend']Hmm... well another one bites the dust

list of potential cities I'll live in after graduating in May:

Ann Arbor, MI
Chicago, IL
Dallas, TX
Jacksonville, FL
Miami, FL
New Orleans, LA
San Diego, CA[/QUOTE]

Hell yeah. San Diego. We hardly have any horses there.
 
I saw this topic on MSNBC on saturday. It's really smart, but done so fucking stupidly. You wanna stop DUI's and DWI's right, wait the outside the fucking bar and stop and assholes trying to drive. The one's with a Designated Drivers or hop a cab home should be ok. The hotel bar story is super fucked up. You may have to drink in another state or just in your house.
 
[quote name='Mookyjooky']Meh, just get trashed... act like you're hot for the police man, give him a hug, barf down his back and touch his gun. After the horrible beating he'll give you, try to run, when he hog-ties you, shit yourself, when he picks you up, piss yourself. When you get to jail, deny everything.[/quote]

My friend puked on a Customs Officer's shoes coming back from Canada one time. She was of age there but under age here.
 
Man this really should kill Bar traffic. Now not only do you have to spend $30 for alcohol that you could purchase for $5 at a liqour store and drink at home but you have to deal with worrying about being too drunk. If i still drank there would be no way I would ever go to a bar again just because of the chance of that going wrong. I can't see this helping bar business at all.
 
i'm suprised ther haven't been alot of barfights over this. c'mon, the drunks are going to severely outnumber the cops there. once one person is discovered to be a cop, beat the shit out of him right there in the bar. you see another guy pull out a radio/walkie-talkie to call for backup, beat the shit out of him too. once a few cops get a few broken beer bottles shoved in their faces and twisted around, they'll learn not to fuck with people's drinking.
 
[quote name='LaraCroftsLeftBoob']i'm suprised ther haven't been alot of barfights over this. c'mon, the drunks are going to severely outnumber the cops there. once one person is discovered to be a cop, beat the shit out of him right there in the bar. you see another guy pull out a radio/walkie-talkie to call for backup, beat the shit out of him too. once a few cops get a few broken beer bottles shoved in their faces and twisted around, they'll learn not to fuck with people's drinking.[/quote]
Yeah, is this before or after they bar the doors and teargas/flashbang the entire place?
 
damn, next thing you know itll be legal for them to walk in your home and writeyou a ticket for drinking on your couch watching footbal. Simply ridiculous.
 
[quote name='BasketCase1080']damn, next thing you know itll be legal for them to walk in your home and writeyou a ticket for drinking on your couch watching footbal. Simply ridiculous.[/quote]

I wouldn't write that in a public forum.

big-brother.jpg
 
Same thing happened in north VA (Fairfax County) Cops asked patrons to take breathalizer tests and charged them with public drunkeness if they hit the magic number. People that wouldn't walk out to take the test were charged with failure to obey a reasonable request from an officer (or something like that)


There was a big stink about it and I don't think they've repeated that crap since.

DC cops are notorious for charging DUI to people over any little amount of alchohol. If you admit to drinking a single glass of wine 3 hours earlier with dinner they sometimes charge you. There have been big stinks about particular instances of that as well.
 
[quote name='WeaponX2099']I saw this topic on MSNBC on saturday. It's really smart, but done so fucking stupidly. You wanna stop DUI's and DWI's right, wait the outside the fucking bar and stop and assholes trying to drive. The one's with a Designated Drivers or hop a cab home should be ok. The hotel bar story is super fucked up. You may have to drink in another state or just in your house.[/QUOTE]

Exactly. To me the state of our country is getting to the point where people are just gonna start getting fed up with all the bs rules thrown at us and the crap we deal with on a daily basis to where in country terrorism is gonna be a common thing in the US.
 
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