Court Opinion

ID: 9757115
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 22:19:17.869529+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:28:35.066893
License: Public Domain

BOB McCOY, Justice, concurring.
The purpose of section 49.04 of the Texas Penal Code is articulated in its title, “Driving While Intoxicated.” The phraseology of the statute, however, utilizes the word “operating,” instead of “driving,” and is more expansive, but in my view, still under the umbrella of the logical and laudable intent of the statute — to protect people and property from vehicles driven by intoxicated persons.
Here, the vehicle had to be turned off by first placing the transmission in park, which was accomplished by one of the officers on the scene. Logic therefore instructs that the car was in park when the *439key was first inserted by the driver to start the car. Therefore, the car’s transmission was removed from park by the driver to place it in the position found by the officer, and this action, in my view, is what constituted “operating” the vehicle. Had the driver simply wanted to enter his vehicle to warm up on a cold night, to sleep off his intoxicated state, or to do both, which are actions to be taken without leaving the parking lot, then there would have been no need to engage the transmission. Hence, I believe his actions fell under the ambit of the statute, and I concur with the majority’s resolution of Dorn-busch’s first and second points and agree with their resolution of his third point.