Dry and Reckless

The new, special FPD medal for number of “dry reckless” arrests.

There is a term for a plea agreement for those drivers who may or may not have been legally impaired when they were pulled over by the cops.  It’s charmingly called “dry reckless” and means that the police and the DA aren’t sure they can pin a DUI rap on the driver, and the driver would rather take a big insurance premium hit than take his chances in court.

Cheers. I knew they’d figure it out for me…

And that is exactly what is going to happen with Joe Felz, he of the November 9th, 2016 Wild Ride. The DA can’t win a DUI case against Felz because our sterling police department refused to collect any evidence. And Felz will be more than satisfied with making the stigma of “drunk diver” go away, and no mandatory license suspension. Once the DUI part vanishes, the cops will only be on the hook to explain why they didn’t at least give Wild Ride Joe a traffic ticket for his careening out of control (while driving uphill) on Glenwood Avenue. And that’s nothing for a force that has a history of making up stuff on the witness stand.

Video evidence may or may not ultimately be produced, depending on the daily whim of the DA, but it won’t matter since all the relevant charges will have been dismissed, with all the legal niceties observed.

16 Replies to “Dry and Reckless”

  1. The hit-and-run will be harder to plea if the DA wants to press it. There were multiple witnesses (Barb and the cops), their statements were caught on tape, evidence scattered all over the road plus there may be video. If the DA lets Joe plea that one down, you know the fix is in.

    1. All Wild Ride’s lawyer has to say is Joe bumped his head on the steering wheel and got a bit dazed and confused – didn’t know what he was doing. Case closed. At the worst he might get a Roland Chi “spit and acquit deal.”

      You think there’s a infinitesimal chance the fix isn’t in?

      Hell, Sebourn, Fitzgerald and Chaffee might even give him his job back!

      1. Hah, he bumped his head right before he called the mayor? I’d love to see him make those claims in court. It would unravel for Hughes and Fitzgerald pretty quickly.

  2. I think he claimed to be fixing some wiring under the steering wheel column when he hit the tree

  3. Nothing on his record, and a big hike on his insurance premium, gleefully paid with a tax-payer funded nest egg. What’s not to like about this deal? Cheers, Joe, bottoms up!

    1. That sums it up pretty well. In fact he would no doubt get his pal Attorney Jones to start looking out for another city manager gig – maybe even come back to Fullerton.

    1. sometimes I like to drive around on the broken roads in Fullerton and wonder where all the money went to

  4. Felz will walk with a wet reckless, a measley three year hit on his insurance, $200 restitution for the tree and 20G’s a month for the rest of his life. He was a great city manager and moved Fullerton forward. Like it or not, the show must go on. People have to be paid and housing has to be built. All these people moving here need a place to live. Maybe you all should move the Salton sea and take over the local government out there.

    1. He was a great city manager if you are a cop or an out of town developer paying huge developer fees for the right to build God-awful, massive rabbit warrens.

      If you like massive budget deficits, incompetent, spendthrift management and out-of control, unaccountable, horribly expensive goons wearing police uniforms, he’s your guy.

      1. Fullerton’s police salaries are right in line with all the other cities. Its a fact. Another fact is Its a tough job in Fullerton. I would like to see you frisk an HIV+ hype, break up a bar brawl knife fight at 2am or worse in DTF. What do you do for a living?

        1. “I would like to see you frisk an HIV+ hype, break up a bar brawl knife fight at 2am or worse in DTF.”

          Ha, I’d like to see them do that too.

        2. Aaaaaaaaand all the other cities have their budgets in the toilet, too. On top of that there’s, what, 25-100 qualifed applicants for every position advertised?

          Just because everyone else is jumping off the fiscal cliff doesn’t mean we should, too. Unfortunately for us, the union has successfully framed the question of pay as what they deserve, not we can afford or even what the market will bear.

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