That really is quite the contraption and you wonder what no fault and licensing issues it even suggests. Odd story indeed.

Interesting story Joe. This is at least the second story I've read about motorized chair operators with OWI charges. Dennis should have known better, especially after Kile Wygle, 28 of Ohio was charged with driving his motorized bar stool while under the influence. Wygle attempted a U-turn while speeding down the street in front of his home. I have to wonder if this makes sense from a law enforcement standpoint. Our societie's relationship with alcohol seems to be one of love and hate. On either the bar stool or the Lazyboy there aren't any passengers. You can't drive fast enough to do much harm ... and it would be fun to watch them crash. So why the tickets? Maybe they should create these with pedals instead of being motorized.

You can see a photo of his MBS at the CNN site: More ...

Mike:

Yes, the mind boggles with the legal ramifications. Thanks for reading and commenting.

Steve:

I have to disagree. While generally, I'm willing to allow people who want to take risks (motorcycling without helmets, skateboarders on railings), we have to draw the line where the risk is spread to innocent bystanders. You even implied as much in your message.

What if this guy hit a motorcycle? That would do some damage, and could easily kill the cyclist. Hitting a pedestrian with this thing at 15-20 miles per hour could also be deadly. No, I'm pretty sure if these guys want to drive around their back yard or a protected race track on these things, that's fine, but the law has to keep them off the road, and it makes perfect sense to apply the DWI/OWI/DUI laws!

Thanks for reading and commenting, and posting the additional material.... very interesting indeed.

Mitch:

My partner and criminal lawyer associates tell me that forfeitures occur in more serious DUIs on a regular basis. The state says:

Minnesota’s DWI law provides for vehicle
forfeiture for a designated license revocation or
designated offense, which is typically the third
DWI violation within a ten-year period, though
with one or more aggravating factors, a person’s
second-time or even first-time violation might
qualify as well.

I have to agree that just on pure creativity and workmanship, the work is impressive. The auction will be interesting!

Thanks for reading and commenting.

KirkW:

I thought I took a fairly light tone with the story, but despite the initial humor of the situation, people have to be aware and responsible for their behavior. And drinking and driving results in tragedy way too often. I'll go so far as to say don't ride a bicycle intoxicated. I've seen people killed from getting hit by an out-of-control cyclist.

I'm not sure why you're ripping on lawyers. There are good lawyers and bad ones, but they tend to have influence on people's lives, and I would agree many could be more mindful of that. But you can't judge all lawyers by what you've heard or the actions of a few. But people do.

I just try to follow the example of great trial lawyers like Abraham Lincoln and the Framers of our great Constitution.

Thanks for reading and commenting.

Wesley

There is a question here of scale, I agree, but look at the updated post:
More ...
and you can see this thing is no toy. It could do some serious damage if it hit someone.

Thanks for reading and commenting.