Don't drive while drunk .. or walk .. ??

Hi all .. i just wanted to rant about this because myself and my girlfriend were stopped by the police for "drunk walking" .. i'm from England and have never heard of this, however i'm here in America with my girlfriend and have been for while now and don't know all the laws .. so the story goes .. we were out today shopping and decided to go for a few beers, there was a band playing and we drank .. when we left we obviously decided to walk instead of driving while intoxicated.. the bar is 15 minutes from where we live .. We were no more than 1 minute from home when we were pulled over by a huge flashing .. all bells and whistles .. cop car .. he was obviously doing his job and asked us where we'd been ..etc etc .. we told him we'd been drinking and decided to leave the car and walk as we didn't want to drive while drunk .. as he checked our ID and questioned us he said drink walking was an offence .. he said he'd let us off as we were almost home and even watched us in .. (bless him) So here's my question ..If we can't drive because we are drunk and we can't walk drunk because its an offence, how were we supposed to get home .. ?? given it's a small town with no taxi companies.. i would have slept in the bar no problem .. seriously .. he could have arrested us .. its madness !! Oh and it was tonight and i am typing this so you can see i'm not (and my girlfriend isn't) completly trashed ..

Hmm so you can't drive or walk drunk...

Is there a law about flying helicopters drunk?!

Seriously though, had no idea drunk walking could be a crime! I'm from England too and certainly never been stopped no matter how badly I walk, and I've had some real bad 'uns! Been dragged along the street while half concious before and seemed to get away with it! haha! Maybe it is just in the US!

It's not drunk walking... it's called Public Intoxication.

You were not making noise or disturbing anyone, posed no danger to yourselves, apparently answered his questions honestly when asked, so he cut you some slack and let you go.

You're probably right. I don't think that's actually a crime here in England but Breaching the Peace certainly is which is often caused by guys wondering drunk through the streets so it kinda is!

reply to post by elevatedone


Seriously .. he used the term "drink walking" .. he said that was a crime just as drink driving is and the only reason he let us off for it is because we were so close to home. People get arrested all the time for drunken dissorderly in England .. and i guess what you're saying is your version (or US version i.e public intoxication) of that .. but we were calmly walking, not off our heads drunk .. just merriley drunk .. we weren't doing anything wrong that would prompt a pull over by the police, We were arm in arm .. lovers and all that ..

regards

satellite1