In all of my years as a counselor for both in-class and online alcohol classes I never have heard of someone receiving three driving under the influence (DUI) violations in less than 48 hours. I have heard of people with two, and some really serious boozers with 10 or more DUIs, but this guy take the cake.
As you begin to read about 42-year-old Daniel Kropf I ask you to think about something – how many DUIs do you think he had before these three. As reported in www.sltrib.com.
Kropf, from St. George, Utah was arrested for three DUIs in less than 45 hours last summer. How can that even happen? I have heard about a few people who were so drunk at their first arrest that after being released the next morning they got behind the wheel again and were re-arrested. But three?
He now faces up to 5 1/2 years of incarceration for the crimes. As part of a plea deal, Kropf pleaded guilty to two DUI charges, one as a third-degree felony and the other a class B misdemeanor. The third DUI charge was dropped as part of the deal.
Utah law makes a driver’s third DUI a felony — but only after the driver’s been convicted twice. Prosecutors had planned to hold three separate trials for Kropf, with one slated to start next week, but he took a plea deal to avoid the felony charge. Talk about three strikes and you are out – things could have been a lot worse for this guy who has a long career of driving infractions.
He was arrested on July 8th the first time. The next night, a medical call brought police to the parking lot of a Super 8 Motel where Kropf was found in an Escalade totally hammered. It was less than 24 hours later that he was again pulled over after officers noticed his Escalade swerving all over the road.
I hope he gets a good Utah alcohol class and attends AA meeting and decides to stay sober.