Are you a member of the LGBTQ community and facing first offense DUI charges in New York? Are your pending DUI charges related to sleep driving caused by Ambien or Lunesta? Ambien DUI and Lunesta DUI defenses are different than traditional DUI defenses due to what is known as ‘sleep driving’. A DUI conviction will exert its effects on multiple areas of your life and it behooves you to seek the help of our New York Ambien DUI lawyers serving the gay & LGBTQ communities throughout New York.
To discuss your pending NYC Ambien DUI or Lunesta DUI charges please contact our team of New York Ambien DUI lawyers and NYC DUI lawyers helping the LGBTQ community. They offer free consultations to those facing DUI charges in New York. Proudly serving all of New York including Manhattan, Brooklyn, Long Island, Queens, Rochester, Harlem, Syracuse, Buffalo, Yonkers, The Catskills, Albany, Oyster Bay, North Hempstead and North Hempstead.
New York State Facts & Statistics
The state of New York, often referred to as The Empire State, is in the Northeastern United States and is the United States’ 27th-most extensive, fourth-most populous, and seventh-most densely populated state. The state capital is Albany. New York is surrounded by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south and Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont to the east. The state has a maritime border in the Atlantic Ocean with Rhode Island, east of Long Island, as well as an international border with the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the north and Ontario to the west and north. The state of New York has an estimated 19.8 million residents as of 2015 census. It is commonly referred to as New York State in an effort to separate itself it from New York City, the state’s most populous city and its economic hub.
With an estimated population of nearly 8.5 million in 2014, New York City is the most populous city in the United States and the premier gateway for legal immigration to the United States. The New York City Metropolitan Area is one of the most populous urban agglomerations in the world. New York City is a global city, exerting a significant impact upon commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and entertainment, its fast pace defining the term New York minute. The home of the United Nations Headquarters, New York City is an important center for international diplomacy and has been described as the cultural and financial capital of the world, as well as the world’s most economically powerful city. Over 40% of Ney York State’s population stems from New York City and its 5 burroughs. Two-thirds of the state’s population lives in the New York City Metropolitan Area, and nearly 40% live on Long Island. Both the state and New York City were named for the 17th century Duke of York, future King James II of England. The next four most populous cities in the state are Buffalo, Rochester, Yonkers, and Syracuse.
The earliest Europeans in New York were French colonists and Jesuit missionaries who arrived southward from settlements at Montreal for trade and proselytizing. New York had been inhabited by tribes of Algonquian and Iroquoian-speaking Native Americans for several hundred years by the time Dutch settlers moved into the region in the early 17th century. In 1609, the region was first claimed by Henry Hudson for the Dutch, who built Fort Nassau in 1614 at the confluence of the Hudson and Mohawk rivers, where the present-day capital of Albany later developed. The Dutch soon also settled New Amsterdam and parts of the Hudson Valley, establishing the colony of New Netherland, a multicultural community from its earliest days and a center of trade and immigration. The British annexed the colony from the Dutch in 1664. The borders of the British colony, theProvince of New York, were similar to those of the present-day state.
Many landmarks in New York are well known to both international and domestic visitors, with New York State hosting four of the world’s ten most-visited tourist attractions in 2013: Times Square, Central Park, Niagara Falls (shared with Ontario), and Grand Central Terminal.[27] New York is home to the Statue of Liberty, a symbol of the United States and its ideals of freedom, democracy, and opportunity. New York’s higher education network comprises approximately 200 colleges and universities, including Columbia University, Cornell University, New York University, and Rockefeller University, which have been ranked among the top 35 in the world.
The New York Ambien DUI lawyers and Lunesta DUI attorneys at our firm have represented several clients charged with DUI who reported taking Ambien and going to sleep in their bed shortly before their arrest. Unfortunately, these types of cases have become more common over the years.
If needed we will retain the services of an expert in the field of forensic toxicology. Our expert witnesses do a tremendous job of explaining how sleep driving can occur after taking Ambien (Zolpidem) and how the person might wake up in a jail cell with no recollection of the events that occurred after taking the sleeping pill.
What is Ambien or Zolpidem?
The FDA defines “sleep driving” as “driving while not fully awake after ingestion of a sedative-hypnotic product, with no memory of the event.” Several sedative-hypnotic products can cause sleep driving including Ambien, Rozerem, Sonata, and Lunesta. Although “sleep driving” is extremely dangerous, it is not illegal as a “DUI” under Wisconsin law.
Under Wisconsin’s DUI statute, three types of substances or a combination of these three substances can cause DUI impairment:
- Alcoholic beverages;
- Certain chemical substances
- Certain chemical substances you have no prescription for.
Zolpidem which is sold under the brand name Ambien (zolpidem tartrate) is not listed as a controlled substance under Alabama DUI laws. Additionally, Ambian (Zolpiedem) does NOT qualify as a chemical substance or an alcoholic beverage.
So far Wisconsin DUI laws have not yet expanded the definition of substances causing impairment under the DUI statute to include Ambien. Because Ambien is used right before bedtime, individuals driving under its influence is rare. Unlike alcohol or recreational drugs, it is not used to create a “high” or while people are partying. Arguable, the impairment is caused by being alseep, not by the intoxicating effects of the substance.
Impairment from Ambien While Driving is not a “DUI” in Wisconson
DUI specifically requires proof beyond all reasonable doubt of impairment from alcohol, or a qualifying chemical or controlled substance. Although Ambien, on a rare occasion, might cause a person to drive while half asleep and half awake it does not meet the definition of DUI under Wisconsin’s current DUI laws.
In these cases, the arresting officer might say that he also smelled alcohol making it very difficult to distinguish between the impairment caused by alcohol verses the impairment caused by the fact the person was half asleep and half awake. In a DUI case involving alcoholic beverages, the jury instructions require proof beyond all reasonable doubt that the Defendant was under the influence of alcoholic beverages to the extent that his or her normal faculties were impaired.
The jury is also told that the term “normal faculties include but are not limited to the ability to see, hear, walk, talk, judge distances, drive an automobile, make judgments, act in emergencies and, in general, to normally perform the many mental and physical acts of our daily lives.”
Other types of impairment, although extremely dangerous, would also not qualify a “DUI.” For instance, a person can be impaired from too much caffeine, extreme fatigue that is not induced by medication, a seizure, extreme emotional distress, or being distracted by a cell phone or text message.
Although these behaviors could be dangerous and might qualify as a criminal offense under another statute, they would not qualify as DUI despite the fact that some type of “impairment” was found.
What is Sleep Driving?
In many of these cases a person takes the sleeping pill and then while partially asleep, unknowingly partially wakes up and engages in some routine behavior such as eating, walking or even grabbing the car keys and walks to their car to drive away. Sleep driving is a well documented phenomenon which is similar to sleep-walking.
In many of these cases, the person is stopped for suspicion of being under the influence of alcohol or a controlled substance. The person is often only semi-clothed or in their pajamas and appears to be disoriented.
Ambien (Zolpidem) can cause memory loss and amnesia. After these incidents, the person might have no recollection of driving or the initial contact with the officer. Instead, the person describes “walking up in a jail cell” with no recollection of how they ended up being arrested for DUI. Many witnesses to the phenomenon describe the person as being in a sleep like trance.
In these cases, the impairment is not caused by a “high” from the Ambien and or Lunesta. Instead, the impairment is caused because the person is actually partially asleep although their eyes are open and they are driving a vehicle. The person experiences a “dissociative” reaction when certain neural connections are blocks and signals from the brain stem and sub-cortical areas are deactivated. In these cases, the person is essentially half asleep and half awake.
Even the FDA Recognizes DUI Ambien may be an “Involuntary” Act
In 2007, the FDA ordered drug manufacturers of Ambien and similar sedative-hypnotic drugs to warn users of the side effect of “sleep walking” or “sleep driving.” The warning can be found on the bottle label and also on the medication guide that is included with the prescription.
Gay New York Ambien DUI Lawyers
If you were arrested for a DUI or another type of felony or misdemeanor involving impairment from Ambien or Zolpidem in Wisconsin then contact our experienced gay Buffalo, New York Ambien DUI lawyers. We represent clients throughout New York including New York City, Hempstead, Long Island, Brooklyn, Queens, Brookhaven, Islip, Oyster Bay and the surrounding areas for a variety of different types of DUI cases involving alcohol, drugs or prescription medications.
Click here now to talk to a Rochester, New York Ambien DUI defense attorney.