Illinois Woman Booked For DUI While Bailing Her Husband Out Of Jail For His DUI
When a loved one is arrested, your first instinct is probably to rush down to the police station and bail them out of jail. It’s an admirable response, but you shouldn’t head down to the station if there’s a chance you could end up in handcuffs too. An Illinois woman learned that lesson the hard way when she tried to bail her husband out of jail earlier this month.
Clarice Singer, the wife of Moultrie County Democrat Party Chairman Timothy Singer, was booked into Moultrie County Jail on DUI charges. That may not sound all that crazy in and of itself, but here’s where things get interesting. She was arrested on suspicion of DUI at the police station when she arrived to bail her husband out, who was arrested for drunk driving just hours earlier.
Husband and Wife DUIs
According to the police report, Mrs. Singer drove to the station to bail her husband out of jail. Mr. Singer had been booked into jail at 1:43 a.m., and Mrs Singer arrived to the station around 3:00 a.m. She then spoke to the same officer who arrested her husband, and the officer suspected that Mrs. Singer had also been drinking. At 3:18 a.m., the same officer who arrested her husband booked Mrs. Singer into jail on suspicion of DUI. You can see the charge sheet here. Mrs. Singer’s jury trial is set for 9:00 a.m. on February 3rd of next year.
Needless to say, it’s important to make good decisions when it comes to drinking and driving. Regardless of whether Mrs. Singer thought that she was under the legal limit, or she assumed that since she wasn’t driving at the time she spoke with the officer that she couldn’t get in trouble, don’t put yourself in a position to get busted by the cops. DUIs are some of the most common types of cases that we handle because people don’t think they’ll get caught, and while you probably aren’t going to drive to the police station if you’ve been drinking alcohol, know that hundreds of people get busted for DUI each day, and police are always on the lookout.
Hopefully the Singers learn from their mistakes, and hopefully others can learn from their example. Even if there’s the slightest possibility that you are over the legal limit, find another way to get around town. Smartphones have made it easier to hail an Uber or a Lyft, and Illinois has plenty of public transportation options that are hundreds if not thousands of times cheaper than a DUI.
If you or a loved one have been arrested for DUI, don’t drive to the station to bail them out right away, especially if you’ve been drinking. Instead, pick up the phone and call Brett and the team at Appelman Law. They may be able to secure your loved one’s release from jail sooner than you could, or at a minimum they can explain how you can best go about getting them out of jail. Once they are released, we’ll go to work putting forth the best legal defense to help get the charges reduced or dropped, because DUI penalties in Illinois can be severe. We answer our phones 24/7/365, so if you need legal help, day or night, give Appelman Law a call today at (630) 717-7801