May 28, 2013 | Criminal Defense, Drug Crimes and Controlled Substances Defense, DUI & DWI, Felony DUI, Uncategorized
A group of teenagers and young adults were cited with underage drinking, while another man was charged with drug possession after 
deputies ran into a party in Rock Hill this past Saturday. This occurred after midnight when deputies were called to Alpha Street, just off Ebenezer Road, after reports about a large house party. Further, according to the police report, several teens were seen running into a wooded area near the house.
For the teens and young adults who were captured, police issued courtesy and juvenile summons; the kids were aged 15 to 20 years old. While carrying on the investigation, a deputy learned that there might be marijuana inside a silver Honda parked in front of the house. When police approached the car, they found a man asleep inside.
The young man reported to deputies that he was the designated driver for the night and did not consume any alcohol. However, deputies thereafter searched the car and found a marijuana grinder, a glass jar of marijuana, two metal tubes, and a glass bong inside a leather bag in the glove compartment. Police arrested him for simple possession of marijuana.
If you or a loved one has been charged with a drinking related, or drug related crime in Rock Hill, South Carolina, or anywhere else in the region, contact the law offices of Reeves, Aiken & Hightower, LLP. You can contact our Baxter Village office located in Fort Mill South Carolina for a confidential consultation at 803-548-4444, or toll-free at 877-374-5999.
May 24, 2013 | Criminal Defense, Uncategorized
York County Sheriff’s Office is searching for a man whom they say led them on a high speed chase before fleeing his vehicle and escaping from
deputies. This circumstance occurred when a Mazda sedan, with no working tag light, was discovered by deputies at around 2:00 a.m., and they attempted to pull the driver over, according to a report from the York County Sheriff’s Office.
Thereafter, the vehicle refused to stop, and continued driving down several roads in the community at a high rate of speed before crossing into Chester County. Deputies eventually caught up with the car in a field close to Aaron Burr Road and Highway 909. The car was up against the fence, and the driver was nowhere to be found. Chester County K9 units responded to the area, but were unable to pickup a scent of the man. However, an identification card and a kilogram of marijuana was found in a Belk shopping bag. The investigation is on-going.
If you or a loved one has been charged with a crime in South Carolina, contact the law offices of Reeves, Aiken & Hightower, LLP for a confidential consultation. You can reach our Baxter Village office in Fort Mill South Carolina at 803-548-4444, or toll-free at 877-374-5999. Visit our website here.
May 23, 2013 | Criminal Defense, Uncategorized
Winthrop University police arrested a 20-year-old man after he sped down Cherry Road without a valid driver’s license. He was thereafter charged with damaging city property after the infuriated arrestee kicked out the window of the patrol car causing almost $500 worth of damage. This occurred at around 7:00 p.m. in the evening.
The man, who could not locate insurance information, stated that he and his younger brother, who was with him were trying to get to Pineville. The police also found that the car had a revoked tag and no insurance, as the older brother screamed loud profanities at his younger brother forcing him to crawl into the back of the van to dig for the information.
Police arrested the driver after the younger brother informed the police that there was a metal pole under the driver’s seat, along with a knife. The Rock Hill police arrived and the driver began to bang his head against the police car, and eventually kicked the window out of the car while the officer was driving.
The kid was then took to the York County Detention Center by another Rock Hill police officer and he was issued a citation for damage to city property, speeding, improper vehicle license, operating an uninsured vehicle, public disorderly conduct and unlawfully carrying a weapon.
In times such as this, it is important to keep your cool. If you become enraged such as the driver illustrated above, you will only act to enhance your charges. Therefore, if you have been charged with a crime in the Rock Hill, South Carolina region, call the law offices of Reeves, Aiken & Hightower, LLP at 803-548-4444, or toll free at 877-374-5999.
May 23, 2013 | DUI & DWI, Felony DUI, Uncategorized
A Catawba, South Carolina woman was found with heroin and syringes in her purse hours before she was due to be in court. This occurred after police were called to a Rolling Ridge Road home where a 22-year-old was suffering from an overdose. The 21-year-old suspect was viewed by police attempting to help the other woman to her feet; and, thereafter she was taken to the hospital.
Police found that the woman was wanted by the state Department of Probation and Parole, and when officers searched the woman’s purse, they found a syringe filled with a clear liquid. The woman further asked officers not to arrest her because she was due in court in a few hours. She was charged with possession of heroin; vials of anabolic steroids werealso later found in the house where the incident took place.
The court proceeding was in reference to an incident where the woman and her sister were found in a Rock Hill motel room using heroin and hydrocodone after she was accused of stealing a man’s gun while they were at his house. And, if this is all is not enough, the woman also received a grand larceny charge two years ago; this is what put her on probation in the first place.
If you or a loved one has been charged with a criminal offense in North or South Carolina, contact the law offices of Reeves, Aiken & Hightower, LLP at our Charlotte, North Carolina office at 704-499-9000, or our South Carolina office at 803-548-4444.
May 23, 2013 | DUI & DWI, Felony DUI, Uncategorized
The National Traffic Safety Board has initiated a recent program called “the Sniffer.” This recommendation has been overshadowed by 
another recent recommendation that proposes to decrease BAC levels from 0.08% to 0.05%. However, the second (“Sniffer) recommendation may also have serious implications if enacted.
“The Sniffer” relates to the high visibility enforcement of DWI laws that have been enacted recently such as well publicized media campaigns, visible enforcement efforts such as saturation patrols and sobriety checkpoints, and swift and certain penalties for drivers arrested for DWI. Now, none of these adequately explain the Sniffer. What is the Sniffer?
When officers employ traditional methods of determining driving impairment at a sobriety checkpoint, only about half of all drivers with BAC’s above the legal limit are identified. The NTSB has recommended that officers use passive alcohol sensors which can tip them off to the presence of alcohol. These sensors are housed within a flashlight or a clipboard and they detect alcohol vapor sampling the drivers exhaled breath, as well as the air in the car. Further, it analyzes the sample for alcohol and provides some information about the relative amount of alcohol detected.
The display on the Sniffer ranges from green to red, corresponding to BAC ranges, and they have been used by law enforcement officers across the country for years. In the past, however, law enforcement officers have been prevented from using the device to determine probable cause that a driver has committed an implied-consent offense. Now the question is whether the Sniffer, if implemented, is a violation of one’s Fourth Amendment rights.
Various techniques that are already in place to detect whether someone has been drinking such as an officer’s own personal perceptions, it may not be too difficult for the NC legislature to enact passive alcohol screening devices. However, the fact that the device is held within inches of a potential offenders face may be similar to a dog sniff of a person; and the fact that the device detects from within the car may also add some legal implications.
The constitutional inquiry may also implicate the US Supreme Court case, Kyllo v. United States, 533 U.S. 27 (2001), where law enforcement use of a thermal imaging device to detect heat within a private home implicated the Fourth Amendment. The holding stated that “obtaining sense-enhancing technology information regarding the interior of a home that could not have otherwise been obtained without physical intrusion into a constitutionally protected area is a search, at least where ‘the technology in question is not in general public use.'” Therefore, the major question is whether the heat sensing technology in Kyllo is similar to the alcohol sensing devices and thus not in general public use.
If you have been charged with a DWI in North Carolina, or a DUI in South Carolina contact the law offices of Reeves, Aiken & Hightower, LLP for a confidential consultation. You can contact our North Carolina office at 704-499-9000, or our Fort Mill, South Carolina office at 803-548-4444.
May 23, 2013 | DUI & DWI, Felony DUI, Uncategorized
Rock Hill police officers were led on a foot pursuit of a suspected shoplifter as he fled from the Rock Hill Dollar General last Thursday. The 
police report indicates that the man was found with soap and underwear after an employee reported that a man wearing all black went into the store on Cherry Road with a blue bag and stuffed items within before leaving.
The employee, who filed the police report, stated that the accused shoplifter became defensive as he was walking to the front door of the store. Before chase ensued, the man attempted to hand the items to a woman in the parking lot who immediately returned them to the store. Thereafter, the man bolted. The police chased the suspect through a parking lot; from the parking lot to a field; and, from the field into a residential neighborhood where the suspect was apprehended. The 25-year-old man is being charged with his third shoplifting offense, which could potentially be a felony.
If you have been charged with a shoplifting or any other criminal offense in York County, Lancaster County, or Chester County, contact the law offices of Reeves, Aiken & Hightower, LLP at our Fort Mill, South Carolina office at 803-548-4444, or toll-free at 877-374-5999.
