Upon release from jail a person is given a citation or booking sheet showing charges the police imposed for a DUI arrest, what do those numbers mean? This article attempts to explain the most common charges associated with a DUI arrest in Torrance or anywhere else in the South Bay.

First, you must understand that the charges that a person is arrested or are not necessarily the same charges they will face in Court. the District Attorney or city prosecutor is responsible for filing formal charges in a criminal case and that is done by way of an official complaint. With this in mind, the most common vehicle code sections written up in a drunk driving arrest are VC 23152 a and 23152 b. These charges relate to the crime that was alleged and can be broken down to their individual component parts.

The VC23152a charge is the driving under the influence statute that prohibits driving while one is impaired by the use of alcohol. The elements of the offense are 1. driving and 2. At the time of driving the person was so impaired by alcohol they could no longer drive the vehicle with the caution characteristic of a sober person under similar circumstances.

The 23152b is simply driving at a time your true blood alcohol level was .08 or higher. The tricky part to this charge is determining what the actual level was “at the time of driving”. You see, most everybody’s BAC is in a constant state of change, so testing someone’s breath or blood 30-90 minutes after they stop driving creates significant issues that an experienced dui attorney can use to their client’s advantage. It is not uncommon for a driver who tested at a .11 or even higher 90 minutes after driving to actually be a.07 or less
at the time of driving if they were in the absorptive phase.