Apparently the ‘D’ in ‘DUI’ does not have meaning anymore. David Montalvo, 36, was arrested when he, in a responsible fashion, decided to sleep off his intoxication in the parking lot of the Market Place Deli. He was charged with DUI.

Monatlvo’s GMC pickup truck was running and in park while he was stopped at the parking lot. The reason the truck was running was because it was 25 degrees Fahrenheit that February morning and he was trying to keep warm.

Montalvo awoke at 5 am with a Hamburg Police Department patrolman standing over him. The cop claims he wanted to make sure Montalvo was okay. The officer then insisted that he take a breathalyzer test, a request that Montalvoe refused.

He was arrested and forced to make a conditional guilty plea, intending to challenge the officer in court on the grounds that his actions violated the fourth amendment.

A New Jersey appellate court upheld the decision and convicted Montalvo of Driving Under the Influence for sleeping in a parked car while intoxicated.

He now faces a ‘driver’s responsibility’ tax of $3000 and an assorted array of complimentary fines and fees that add up to at least an additional $1000.

theNewspaper.com reports:

“From the perspective of the officer on the scene, I don’t find at all that what he was doing was unreasonable,” Superior Court Judge Thomas Critchley Jr. said in his rejection of Montalvo’s argument. “In fact, I find it would have been unreasonable to have stopped his inquiries at any point short of what he did.”

The appellate court agreed that the officer was acting reasonably to render assistance to someone who may have been in distress.

“The officer wanted to make sure the driver was ‘okay,’ nothing was wrong with the businesses and that the truck was operating properly,” the appellate decision concluded. “We are convinced that under the facts as observed by Officer Aaronson defendant was lawfully subject to limited inquiry based upon an objectively reasonable exercise of the officer’s community caretaking function.”

Lesson learned. If you are intoxicated do not sleep in your car. Either drive home or find somewhere else to sleep. Sleeping Under the Influence charges can be pretty expensive.

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Two male suspects, including a 15-year-old boy, are being held by Newark police under suspicion of murder. It is believed that they took part in the murder of three college students in a Newark Schoolyard. The students were lined up against a wall, asked to kneel down and were subsequently shot in the head execution-style.

All of the victims were enrolled, or in the process of enrolling at Delaware State University.

31-year-old Joseph Carranza surrendered earlier this afternoon with his lawyer present.

The 15-year-old boy, who was brought into custody at around 11 p.m. on Wednesday, is not being identified because of his age.

The prosecution is looking at trying him as an adult.

Mayor Cory A. Booker has said that other suspects are being looked for. “We have very, very strong leads,” he said. “I want the killers off the streets of Newark.”

Information from lone survivor Natasha Aeriel, ballistics evidence and a fingerprint have led to a major break in the case according to CNN.com.

Robbery is believed to be the motive of the crime, but authorities are also looking at possible gang involvement.

There is a $150,000 reward for any information regarding the case.

A manhunt is on for the cold-blooded killer who, early Sunday morning, shot four people in the head exection-style after lining them up against a wall near a set of bleachers at the K-8 Mount Vernon School. Only one survived.

The killer struck at random when, according to police, the four victims were sitting outside of the Newark, N.J. school listening to music.

Ofemi Hightower, Deshawn Harvey and Terrance Aeriel were shot and killed. Natasha Aeriel, Terrance’s sister, was able to survive when the bullet entered her ear and lodged in her sinuses.

Natasha and Terrance were both students at the University of Delaware. Natasha will have to continue there, as a Biology major, without the support of her brother.

Hightower was her best friend who hoped to attend the University of Deleware with Natasha and her brother. She was currently working in Newark at a nursing home.

Family members had been told that the four friends were going to a party the night that the incident occurred.

Politicians and Law Enforcement Officers are admittedly stumped. They do not have answers for the devastated family members.

“The only thing I can think of is mandatory curfew, because nothing else works,” said Beverly Reid, the great aunt of two of the victims.

The question is: Will a mandatory curfew actually have prevented this crime?

The likely answer is a resounding “No”. The victims were all adults which means — unless we want curfews for adults — that they would not have been affected by the law.

If we are talking about a curfew for adults then there is a bigger issue. When does the government have the authority to enact and enforce such laws? These are the kinds of questions that need to be thoroughly considered before enacting such Draconian laws.

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