Expert: Jack Toomey - 5/22/2008

Question
my 17 yr old daughter went to a party on their last day of school and the parents wernt home some one had got some alchohol and the kids were drinking some one had called the police and said ther was an underage drinking party going on the police showed up and the kids all ran off in the woods and hid. my daughter and 3 others ran accross the highway and called one of the kids dad who came and picked them up.. they were driving on a gravel road going to the parents house when a sheriff pulled up behind them and they pulled over to get out of the way he stopped behind them and pulled them out one by one and gave them a breath test.. my daughter blew a .o3 and the hauled her in and charged her with minor in possesin because of the breath test.. she was not driving and the parent was not drinking..what should i do ? dont want it on her record with her looking at college after next year. and possible scholerships in sports .. shes never been in any trouble before  and i have allways told her NEVER DRIVE IF YOU HAD EVEN A SIP OF ALOCHOL... call me and i will get you and you will be in FAR less trouble than if i find you driving and drinking or riding with someone who has..shes a great kid  just this one mistake.. any sugestions ?

Answer
Mark,

   It sounds to me that the police had a pretty good idea who was at the party, where they ran to, and what they looked like.  Its pretty common for those who are caught to tell the police the names of the ones who ran away.

   I cannot tell you what to do.  That is giving legal advice and because I am not an attorney and if I started giving people legal advice I would be violating the law.

   But if this happened in my state your daughter would probably be given the chance to go into a diversion program in lieu of appearing in court and if she successfully completed the program the charges would be dismissed.  Now that does mean that this is going to happen  in your state but something close to that will probably happen.

   If you called the juvenile court or whatever its called in your state then they could probably give you an idea what is going to happen.  Calling the officer who charged your daughter might also be a good idea.