An Oregon appeals court has ruled wheelchairs used in crosswalks don't qualify for a DUI. FOTOSEARCH/GETTY
A California prosecutor dropped charges Wednesday against a man who tested positive only for caffeine. A day later, Oregon judges overturned the DUI conviction of a man accused of being intoxicated while maneuvering his wheelchair through an intersection.
“I was telling them, I’m not on anything,” California driver Joseph Schwab told KCRA-TV this week about his unusual case, which began with him being pulled over in August 2015.
Schwab’s blood tested positive for only caffeine, a finding that exploded this week into an widely re-reported news story and negative press for the district attorney’s office in Solano County, which is between San Francisco and Sacramento.
After defending the charge, District Attorney Krishna Abrams decided not to pursue the DUI charge. Abrams said she continued to believe Schwab was on some drug not detected by the blood test, and her office still is pursuing a reckless driving case.
In Oregon, wheelchair-using James Richard Greene received long-awaited vindication following a minor accident in 2012 when he steered his motorized chair through a crosswalk, colliding with a pickup truck.
Greene was accused of driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs, and a jury convicted him after the trial judge refused to nix the case on the grounds that his set of wheels was not covered by the state law against drunken and drugged driving.
A three-judge appeals panel agreed with Greene that his motorized wheelchair was not a “vehicle” when it was used in pedestrian crosswalks. But the court hinted the ans
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