New York State Man Charged With DWI After Being Found Passed Out in Vehicle

Police say a man from New York state was found asleep inside a running vehicle. CBS reports that the incident occurred late Friday night, after officials were called to a report of a suspicious vehicle. Police say the charged were upped to Aggravated DWI due to how allegedly intoxicated the suspect was at the time.

The arrest once again highlights some state lawmakers' push to lower the legal BAC limit, due to the extremely high blood alcohol counts of some suspects.

New York State Police had previously reported in a press release that on October 3, troopers had stopped a vehicle on I-90 in Schodack, where the driver was later found to be over three times over the legal driving limit.

New York State Man Charged With DWI After Being Found Passed Out in Vehicle

CBS reports that a 43-year-old Ballston Lake man was arrested, after police say they found him asleep in a running vehicle Friday. Police say they had been called to an area in Clifton Park over a suspicious vehicle, when they found the suspect passed out.

See Also: Man Allegedly Drove Over 3X Legal Limit On New York State Thruway

The suspect allegedly had a BAC of .18%, which had lead to a charged of Aggravated DWI, reports CBS.

New York To Lower Legal BAC Limit?

Advocates have long gathered in Albany to rally for change. What these people are pushing for, according to WNYT, is for the state to lower its legal drunk driving limit. The current BAC limit for New York state is 0.08%. Some feel it should be lower.

A number of lawmakers have pushed in recent years to lower the state's legal limit, including State Senator John Lui, who said he would make it a top priority to lower the limit to 0.05%.

Another proponent of lower BAC laws includes Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon. 

According to statistics posted at CBS, New York saw 335 alcohol-related deaths in 2022, which was a 30% percent increase over the last five years. Currently, Utah is the only state in the country that has a limit of .05%, which went into effect at the end of 2018.