The best way to dispute a DUI charge is not to drive your vehicle into the courtroom.
Guess no one told Carl Ahrens, because he's the guy who drove his mini dirt-bike into court the other day to prove that it wasn't a motor vehicle.
Judge Thomas Meyer was not impressed with the effort. He suspended Ahrens' license for six months for driving with a blood-alcohol content greater than 0.08 percent, endangering the health of a child, improper operation of an off-road motorcycle, operating an uninsured motor vehicle and driving without registration.
Ahrens got into trouble on his Razor MX500 -- a tiny motorbike known as a "dirt rocket" -- when a police officer approached him and made him take a breathalyzer. Ahrens had been giving his son rides on the bike while his blood-alcohol level was at 0.181 percent. The cop arrested him, charged him with drunken driving, and then threw the bike into the police car's trunk.
Ahrens argued that the bike isn't an actual motor vehicle, but a toy.
"It goes 4 miles an hour," he said, according to the Northwest Herald. "I plug it in overnight."
In order to prove his point, Ahrens drove the "toy" into court Tuesday.
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He may have a point. The manufacturer's Web site describes the bike, which runs on a 12-volt battery, as "a scaled down, electric powered dirt bike" and can be purchased at places like Wal-Mart and Toys 'R' Us. Nevertheless, it was a vehicle and he was operating it drunk.
"I think Judge Meyer made the proper decision," Prosecutor Jennifer Gibson said. "I think it shows what a serious offense it is that he was riding his kids around on this motorbike at over two times the legal limit."
Considering the DUI charge, perhaps we shouldn't be surprised that Ahrens didn't make a good decision and didn't think his defense all the way through.
It's a good thing for the people in the court that he wasn't caught driving a tractor.
Matt Bartosik, a "between blogs" blogger, also runs on a 12-volt battery.
