TERRE HAUTE —
The lyrics “I ain’t drunk, I’m just drinkin’” could be sung by Hoosiers more often as of July 1, when a change in Indiana law sets a distinction between being drunk in public and public intoxication.
In the Wabash Valley, a check of law enforcement agencies determined the change won’t have much of an effect on how the misdemeanor law is enforced.
“Typically, my department doesn’t just arrest someone who’s been drinking,” said Linton Police Chief Troy Jerrell.
“If someone is walking down the street, not stumbling or falling into traffic, or being loud, or threatening people, they’re not causing a problem.”
Vigo County Sheriff Greg Ewing said his department follows the same general rule concerning people who drink in public, or at a bar and make the decision to walk home rather than drive.
A benefit of the change, Ewing pointed out, is the subsection stating that a person may not initiate an action against a police officer based on the officer’s failure to enforce the law.
“It used to be that if an officer came across someone who was impaired and [the officer] didn’t arrest them, [and] that person continued walking and got hit by a car at the next intersection, then the officer or department could be held liable,” Ewing said.
The sheriff also noted that the law shouldn’t have any effect on “The Walk” along Wabash Avenue as part of the Indiana State University homecoming tradition, where pedestrians walk from bar to bar on a route from downtown Terre Haute to Memorial Stadium on the city’s east side.
“If a person is not being disorderly and is simply walking, I don’t see where you’d have probable cause to make an arrest,” Ewing said of The Walk.
The law change came about after court decisions concerning the arrest of an intoxicated woman who was a passenger in her car being driven by a sober designated driver.
Ewing said that case was an example of a person trying to do the right thing and get a ride home, and he said his deputies would likely not arrest a person in that situation unless the person was endangering someone, disturbing the peace or creating a disturbance, as the law states.
Chief Deputy Prosecutor Rob Roberts also told the Tribune-Star he does not believe the law change will have much of an impact in Vigo County.
“In my experience, police officers generally use very good discretion,” Roberts said. “They aren’t out to harass people who are simply having a good time and not being a problem for anyone else.”
Many of the arrests made in Vigo County are alcohol- or drug-related, he noted, but the public intoxication cases are usually handled through Terre Haute City Court and result in minimal jail time.
Reporter Lisa Trigg can be reached at (812) 231-4254 or lisa.trigg@tribstar.com. Follow her on Twitter @TribStarLisa.
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