by

A drunk driver slammed into the rear of a parked FHP with warning lights on a highway in Orlando. The officer was sitting in his car with safety lights flashing to protect road crew working nearby. The officer sustained no injuries in this incident. The driver, who’s identity has not been released, was charged with careless driving, DUI and driving on a learner’s license.

This is a sad incident in that not only was a deadly collision situation made, thankfully with no serious injuries, but it was a drunk driving case with a minor. The juvenile driving the vehicle was by law illegal to be drinking in the first place, and then drove while intoxicated. All parents need to monitor their children closely in order for the following not to occur.

DUI at any age is one of the most common and serious life-affecting offenses on the books, and for good reason. Drinking and driving don’t mix. There is no way anyone can weasel their way out of that one, when its obvious that being impaired does not help in the activity of anything requiring focus and attention, driving included.

Continue reading →

by

BACK IN THE NEWS, ITS PRESTON PARKER

After his recent DUI arrest, Preston Parker, receiver at Florida State University, has been dismissed “due to his latest violation of team policy.” Bobby Bowden is sad to let the guy go, but he had to do what he had to do.

Recapping what his last DUI arrest entailed… Parker was found passed out in an idle-running Dodge Charger at a McDonald’s in the early hours of the weekend. He was arrested for DUI, yet tested under the legal limit for alcohol via breath test. Marijuana was found actively in a urine sample immediately after the arrest.

Parker faces new problems now as a Violation of Probation will come into play in reaction to a previous charge of marijuana possession and an illegally carried firearm charge out of Palm Beach Gardens. He was placed on a plea deal of 12 month probation stemming from that marijuana possession charge. According to Florida Department of Corrections records, May 18 was the end date for that probation, so he will likely face a misdemeanor probation violation.

VOP (Violation of Probation) is something you must deal with immediately; the sooner the better.

Continue reading →

by

Larry Sullen, 23, Rudolph Peacock, 19, and Bridgette Pelham, 24, have been arrested and charged with the sale of a controlled substance, namely cocaine. The three are accused of selling crack cocaine in Esto, Florida to a undercover agent. Originally living in Alabama, all three will most likely be extradited and prosecuted under Florida Law regarding illegal substances and distribution.

Cocaine is a serious drug that carries severe penalties and charges under Florida Statute 893. A controlled substance:

encompass all chemicals, which are regulated under law as having a medicinal or psychotropic effect. These include cocaine, cocaine distillates in cocaine derivatives, synthetic heroin such as Demerol and other branded synthetic painkillers, oxycodone, MDMA, cannabis and other or newly created so-called designer drugs.

Felony charges are to be expected if you are caught with drugs other than marijuana. Having a lawyer is one half of the battle, in the unfortunate instance you actually do have the drugs and get caught, but not doing the drugs to begin with solves alot.

Continue reading →

by

Preston Parker, a football player at Florida State University, was arrested in the wee hours of Saturday for DUI. This is probably going to be devastating for his career due to his prior record. Officers found him “passed out” on his steering wheel stopped in a McDonald’s drive-through. Officers finally aroused him by tapping on the window and then arrested him after securing the still-running vehicle.

Breath tests showed .054, which do not break legal limits in the State of Florida, yet urine analysis showed positive levels of marijuana. Parker admitted to officers in the report that he had in fact been smoking marijuana and drinking that evening.

DUI means driving under the influence of any substance that can impair your driving abilities. Alcohol, marijuana, cocaine, and any other substance counts and can be used in a court of law against you. DUI is a serious offense and carries strict penalties such as license revocation, jail time, and fines.

Continue reading →

by

The first case in Florida regarding legal gun storage in cars on employer parking lots is being tested. A Boca Raton funeral employee is suing his company for firing him on the premise that he had a gun in the parking lot of his place of employment. He is claiming that the employer violated the new state law that permits people with concealed-weapons licensing to have their firearms secured in their cars on workplace property. A spokesman for the funeral parlor declined to comment on the situation. The accusations that Collazo, 36, even had a gun on the premises were said to be made by two anonymous tipsters in the area claiming to have seen ” a bulge in his pocket” which resembled a gun.

This is groundbreaking legal news as far as concealed weapons on employee property goes. The “Preservation and Protection of the Right to Keep and Bear Arms in Motor Vehicles Act of 2008” states that:

The statute provides that an “employer”—that is, a business with at least one worker who has a concealed carry permit—may not: (1) prohibit a worker with a concealed-carry permit from securing a gun in a vehicle in a parking lot;(2) prohibit a customer—whether or not he or she has a concealed-carry permit—from securing a gun in a vehicle in a parking lot; (3) ask a worker with a concealed carry permit or a customer whether he or she has a gun in a vehicle in a parking lot, take any action against such a worker or against a customer based on a statement about whether the worker or customer has a gun in a vehicle in a parking lot for lawful purposes, or search a vehicle in a parking lot for a gun; (4) condition employment on whether a person has a concealed-carry permit; (5) terminate a worker with a concealed-carry permit, or otherwise discriminate against such a worker, or expel a customer, for having a gun in a vehicle on the business’s property, unless the gun is exhibited on the property. A business that does not have at least one worker with a concealed-carry permit is not subject to any of these provisions.

Certain places of employment do not allow guns at work under law, but storing of your firearm securely in your car at work is OKAY. Be sure to follow this blog to see where the courts go with this one.

Continue reading →

by

A prominent South Florida defense lawyer and fellow classmate of mine from the good old days of law school at Hofstra, Norm Kent, posted a write-up on a book I recently published, Can The Police Lie To Me?, regarding laws in an easy-to-read format. I just would like to thank Norm for the free advertisement and would also like to point how the ‘non-lawyer’ person should have some method of obtaining information regarding the law as it is pertinent to them.

Did you know that the police can search you on the basis of someone’s lie? This is true, BUT anything found under the search can be thrown out under the following tests: basis of the informant’s knowledge, veracity, credibility, reliability, and totality of the circumstances.

Don’t be intimidated by anyone and especially the police, if you are a legal citizen in your actions. The book also has many other important pieces of information that you might be interested in learning.

Continue reading →

by

Eric Dwayne Wilkerson, 38, has been charged with felony DUI manslaughter in relation to the death of a man crossing a road at night in Tampa. Wilkerson is being held without bail and the man struck by him has not been identified. Police reported that Wilkerson’s black vehicle dragged the pedestrian for 150 feet til his death at 11:55pm. “I just killed a man. I was driving north, and he got in front of me,” said Wilkerson in an affidavit to Tampa police. A strong odor of alcohol was in Wilkerson’s breath, police noted. Refusals to sobriety tests were also noted by police, yet blood-alcohol levels taken at the station revealed a level of .10, over the legal limits in Florida law of .08.

Florida DUI law states that there are three types of tests a police officer may ask a suspect to take in order to test for alcohol in the bloodstream: blood, breath, or urine test. Florida has one of the strictest levels of laws regarding DUI among all states of US. You are not legally obligated to take any field sobriety test in the field, or where you are stopped by police. If you do not comply, you will have your drivers license suspended immediately. There are many other facets of the law that an experienced and knowledge lawyer can tell you in a consultation.

Continue reading →

by

Six pounds of cocaine have been confiscated in a drug bust of a Sanibel Avenue home in Fort Pierce. Five people have been arrested, according to investigators with the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office, FDLE, BATF, and the DEA.

Multiple cocaine trafficking charges have been distributed to the offenders by local authorities. The large amount of cocaine found here would at one point in time been an incredible amount to find in such a warrant arrest, but these days they are becoming more and more common. This results in harsher prison times and more fervent prosecution.

Trafficking, possession, and use of cocaine in Florida is a serious matter and arrests are made day in day out. You cannot afford to not have a defense lawyer that is capable of navigating you through the court proceedings and trial.

Continue reading →

by

Daniel Troya, 25, and Ricardo Sanchez Jr., 25, are now facing sentencing in federal trial regarding the Florida Turnpike executions of Jose Luis Escobedo, 28, Yessica Guerrero Escobedo, 25, and their sons, in what has been claimed to be one of the most horrific and disheartening murders on the state’s roads.

The family of four was murdered execution style on a dark stretch of the Turnpike two years ago on October 13, 2006. The suspected killers will face the death penalty for the actions committed on that evening. A drug cartel feud was the suspected cause of the altercation and resulting slayings. A “civil war” of sorts had been escalating between certain drug organizations and led to this incident.

The defendants are facing charges of armed carjacking resulting in multiple deaths, weapons counts, conspiracy and drug offenses. All the defendants have current plead not guilty.

Continue reading →

by

Can The Police Lie To Me?

The short answer is YES, and they want to because they, in a lot of case, have to in order to get a conviction. Sounds unfair because you can’t lie back to them, but you must deal with the legal and court system if you unfortunately get involved in it.

Attorney Behr provides some of the excerpts of answers he has compiled in his published book, but having a physical copy will provide you with the rest of the answers to many commonly asked questions regardling actual law that affects people every day. Don’t fuss with googling an answer only to get some vague definitions or interpretations from someone not experienced only to find out they don’t apply to your situation. Copies are available via book distributers through Amazon.com and other online outlets, as well as through the Law Office in Fort Lauderdale.

Contact Information
Boca Raton Office
2300 Corporate Blvd NW #238
Boca Raton, FL 33431
Phone: 561-717-3000Toll Free: 800-761-3446

ATTORNEY ADVERTISING

Please do not include any confidential or sensitive information in a contact form, text message, or voicemail. The contact form sends information by non-encrypted email, which is not secure. Submitting a contact form, sending a text message, making a phone call, or leaving a voicemail does not create an attorney-client relationship.

Copyright © 2025, Law Offices of Ralph Behr
JUSTIA Law Firm Blog Design