For DUI, Personal Costs Are High

For Burke resident Robert Alexander, 70, the crisis began last August when his doctor told him that he might have lung cancer, which turned out to be a false alarm. But that weekend, the retired State Department employee went to a Labor Day party, he said, where he drank some beers.

Then he got behind the wheel of his GMC Yukon, and though another driver struck him, Alexander, with a blood alcohol level of 0.17, was charged with drunken driving, records show.

Alexander pleaded guilty, paid $515 in fines and lost his license for a year. As a retiree, he can't get a restricted license, so he relies on friends to drive him everywhere, including the supermarket and church. He has given up competing in golf tournaments because he can never be assured of a ride. His car insurance premiums will triple.

"It's really hard," he said. "My friends, thank God, they have taken care of me."

Others struggle to recover from the financial burden.

Dondi A. Randolph's downward spiral began the day he received DNA test results that showed that he was not the biological father of his 11-year-old son. That night, the plumber's apprentice went to a Ruby Tuesday restaurant and drank two strong mixed drinks -- Bombay Sapphire gin with a splash of grapefruit juice, he said.

Police stopped him about 10:30 p.m. Sept. 2 on Richmond Highway, with a broken taillight and no headlights on. The police report described him as incoherent and confused. His blood alcohol level was 0.15, according to records.

Randolph, 36, pleaded guilty. But he couldn't pay his $572 fine and court costs, even after the judge said he could make deferred payments.

As a result, he couldn't get a restricted license to drive to work and school. Desperate not to miss plumbing classes that he had paid for, he got in his car and headed to school anyway. Police caught him behind the wheel twice, and the fines piled up to more than $2,500. He couldn't pay his attorney. He fell behind on his rent, triggering eviction notices. Eventually, he abandoned his 1980 Cadillac because the impoundment fees exceeded its value.

It was particularly hard explaining the situation to his children.

"Daddy made a mistake," he told his 11-year-old daughter. "Daddy can't drive."

Yet Randolph has grown to consider his arrest a wake-up call. He said he has stopped drinking liquor. He continues to attend school. Some mornings, he rises as early as 3:30 to catch two buses and three trains to a job site 31 miles from his garden apartment in Alexandria.

In all, Randolph has run up more than $4,400 in bills related to his arrest.

The typical cost of drinking and driving in Virginia ranges from $5,000 to $20,000, according to a 2003 study by the Thomas Jefferson Community Criminal Justice Board in Charlottesville, a group of law enforcement officials.