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| Danny Jay Rowan |
As previously reported, a Camden on Gauley man was arrested on Driving on a Revoked License for DUI, Third Offense and booked into the Central Regional Jail on March 19, 2013.
Danny Jay Rowan, age 48, of 310 Coon Creek Road, Camden on Gauley, was charged with the felony crime of Driving Revoked for DUI, Third Offense in a criminal complaint filed by Sergeant Timothy L. White of the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources. Rowan remains incarcerated as of March 21, and his bail was set at $25,000.00.
According to the criminal complaint, on March 19, White saw Rowan operating an All Terrain Vehicle (ATV) on a public highway, being Gauley Mills Road, Route 48/2, which is a center-lined road upon which operation of an ATV is illegal. While White was traveling north on Route 20, he observed Rowan cross Route 20 onto an alley in Camden on Gauley and turned onto Coon Creek Road, Route 44/8, headed northwest toward Cowen.
The complaint further alleges that White caught up with Rowan, who was operating a green 1993 Honda ATV, when White activated his warning lights and Rowan stopped the ATV at his 310 Coon Creek Road residence. The complaints says Rowan advised White that his driver's license was suspended or revoked for DUI. White alleges that a check of Rowan's record revealed that Rowan has a first offense Driving While Revoked for DUI conviction on August 5, 2008, and a second offense Driving While Revoked for DUI conviction on September 9, 2010.
If convicted of this third offense, which is a felony, Rowan faces a prison sentence of not less than one year nor more than three years and, in addition to the mandatory prison sentence, shall be fined not less than three thousand dollars nor more than five thousand dollars. An arrest is not an indication of a person's guilt, but is merely a charge filed by an officer based on probable cause that a person may have committed a crime.
In several cases from the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, the operation of an ATV upon a public highway qualifies as the operation of a "motor vehicle" for purposes of DUI and Driving Revoked laws. The Court has even decided that operation of a lawn mower on a public highway would also qualify.
Our earlier article on this arrest can be accessed at this link:
http://webstercommentator.blogspot.com/2013/03/driving-revoked-for-dui-lands-man-in.html
I guess it all depends upon who you are or (or are related to). I don't know Mr. Rowan, but I recently saw what appeared to be a late teenage guy with a girl on the back of his four-wheeler riding in downtown Webster Springs. My first thought was--"He must be related to someone, to be so brazen." We were in the car behind him, coming right down Main Street from the Court House and turning onto Webster Road, where he met a Deputy Sheriff coming from the opposite direction (it appeared to be Deputy Stout). The kid quickly whipped the four-wheeler into the parking lot by Work Force. The deputy kept going and the teenager and passenger pulled back out onto Webster Road headed in the opposite direction (no ticket, no reprimand--nothing). It all depends upon who you are doesn't it?
ReplyDeleteMr Stout is not a deputy. He is a home confinement officer / bailiff. Has no enforcement powers outside his job titles.
DeleteMr stout is not a deputy he is a bailiff/ home confinement officer
ReplyDeleteWhy would some teenage guy feel like he could ride an ATV through downtown Webster Springs? Who is he?
ReplyDeleteYou think any member of law enforcement would say SOMETHING.