Harrisonburg law enforcement extradited a South Carolina resident from South Carolina to find her guilty of DUI first in Harrisonburg. Jane Ellen Pikaytis, 48, of Tega Cay, SC, was arrested for driving 25 miles per hour down the middle of Interstate 81. She was eventually stopped by veteran Virginia State Trooper Gordon Scott Cooper.
While most people think drunk drivers exceed the speed limit, actually most impaired drivers are stopped for driving too slowly.
Ms. Pikaytis registered a .33 on Intoxilyzer 5000, SN 001998 at the Rockingham County VA jail. SN 001998 is scheduled to be replaced this year by Virginia’s new breath tester the EC/IR II. SN 001998 is well past its intended work life expectancy as parts are no longer being made by the manufacturer for this model Intoxilyzer. This machine is still working only through jury rigged parts intended for a cassette player.
Virginia in internal documents has labeled its Intoxilyzers as “dated, unstable and unreliable.” Ms. Pikaytis is probably guilty but Virginia’s decision to use a dated, unstable and unreliable device calls any reading into question.
Pikaytis was apparently on a cross county trip of self destruction having a pending DUI in NY.
Two deputies traveled to SC to pick her up and bring her back. We do not know how many thousands of dollars in law enforcement time was spent on this extradition. In the end, Pikaytis lost her license for one year, got a fine and spent 15 days in jail. If Pikaytis had been tried in her absence she would have lost her license for one year, got a fine and had at least 60 days of jail time waiting on her if she ever came back to Virginia. In a time of $4.00 gas, you decided if our local tax dollars were well spent to put a drunk driver with probable emotional problems in jail for 15 days.
It reminds me of the old saying, “If you think that you are good with a hammer, you see every problem as a nail.”
http://www.rocktownweekly.com/news_details.php?AID=29633&CHID=1
We represent people charged with DWI/DUI, reckless driving, speeding tickets and people injured in car crashes. If you have questions about any of these topics please look on our site for the information E-Books: http://www.bobkeeferlaw.com. Attorney Bob Keefer has been practicing in the Shenandoah Valley area of Virginia for over 25 years. He routinely goes to court in Rockingham County VA; Harrisonburg VA; Augusta County VA; Staunton VA; Woodstock VA; Shenandoah County VA; and Waynesboro VA. His other sites are http://www.keefercard.com; http://www.duidriver.net; http://www.recklessdriving.net