Court Opinion

ID: 9518231
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 00:47:41.085785+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:27:53.140031
License: Public Domain

PAPADAKOS, Justice,
dissenting.
I am compelled to dissent to the majority’s refusal to recognize drunken driving for what it really is. In this day and age when thousands and thousands of innocent travellers upon the nation’s highways are being mangled and slaughtered each year by drunken drivers, the time is long past due when this court must say STOP, ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! Drunk drivers are brainless lethal weapons.
*484Is there anyone in America today who has been licensed to drive that does not know of the dangers of driving while in a state of intoxication? How can we say that a person who voluntarily drinks intoxicating beverages knowing that he or she will most likely drive a motor vehicle during the drinking session, or shortly thereafter, is not acting under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life?
I am in complete accord with the Superior Court concluding that driving in a state of voluntary intoxication is recklessness per se. I cannot conceive of a higher degree of recklessness than that conduct which places the drunken driver, himself or herself, in a position of extreme peril, much less than the dangers visited upon the innocent.
Perhaps I read the facts differently than does the majority. In my view, one who voluntarily becomes inebriated and drives is manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life, his or her own included. I find that the statutory definition of aggravated assault is met and I, therefore, dissent and would affirm the Superior Court.