DUI Charges For Amish Buggy Driver After Crash With Car
An 19-year-old Amish man has been charged with DUI following a collision involving a motor vehicle.
This comes to us from the New Wilmington, Pennsylvania Amish community – no stranger to DUI charges among its buggy drivers (more on that below). As far as this incident, here’s more from New Castle News:
An Amish buggy driver involved in an accident reportedly found himself in a pickle when he was caught discarding empty alcohol bottles before police arrived.
The accident reportedly occurred around 8:30 p.m. Nov. 2 on North Market Street at Church Street in New Wilmington Borough.
New Wilmington police filed driving under the influence-related charges Wednesday against Rudy J. Byler, 19, of New Castle-Mercer Road.
They’re not giving us a lot of information on what actually happened in the collision. But we do know that a car and another buggy were involved:
A criminal complaint with the charges did not give details of the accident or indicate whether anyone was injured, and attempts to contact the police Friday for more information were unsuccessful.
According to the complaint, the collision involved two Amish buggies and a motor vehicle at the intersection. The side of one buggy had a broken wheel that was on the sidewalk, and a horse was tied to a picket fence when police arrived.
Byler, who said he was driving the buggy, smelled of alcohol, the officer reported. The New Wilmington fire chief, who was at the scene, advised the officer he saw Byler disposing of alcoholic beverage bottles behind a residence in the 200 block of North Market Street.
Byler, upon questioning, admitted to it, the report said. He told police he had consumed several alcoholic beverages, the report said.
Byler “did not perform satisfactorily” on field sobriety tests, and later refused a blood alcohol test at the hospital.
As for the items Byler was seen to be disposing of, in a garbage can they found “an empty box of Mike’s Hard Lemonade, two empty six packs and three empty bottles of the beverage and four empty beer cans.”
Now, those might not all have been his, but they apparently had enough reason to charge him with the following: two counts of DUI, and one count each of purchasing an alcoholic beverage by a minor and failing to yield.
Horse-and-Buggy DUI: Nothing new in this Amish community
For the New Wilmington Amish community, DUI charges are nothing new.
Here is one DUI from 2018 where the young Amish buggy driver hit an SUV. Here’s another from New Wilmington in 2021, where the drunk buggy operator managed to put his ride into a ditch. In this incident, also from 2021, and also the same community, an officer stopped a moving buggy in the wee hours and found a fellow passed out inside.
Are these the only DUI cases that have happened in the New Wilmington community? Most likely not. And they’re certainly not the only times Amish drove their carriages drunk. They’re just times they got caught.
I can imagine the line of thinking that goes “a buggy is slow, so it must not be really a DUI or all that dangerous to drive your buggy home while drunk”.
Well, it’s simply not legal to drive a horse and buggy above the legal alcohol limit…and it seems these DUI buggy drivers keep managing to hit motor vehicles – (or other buggies, as we just saw in this story last week). So that is just wrong-headed thinking.
It seems these are all teens, and this is a place with wilder tradition of running around, and it’s probably been that way a long, long time, and I don’t think likely to change.
This is not meant to demonize this group, but it’s also a reminder not to put people up on a pedestal. Neither way is good, and most Amish folks you ask, I am pretty sure, would agree.
Rudy Byler DUI Charges
To me, the answers are obvious . . . Rudy Byler is a minor (under the legal age for alcohol purchase AND consumption) and if he wants to live to see his own children & grandchildren, it may be up to others to intervene on his behalf. Sadly, this is the time in one’s life when this sort of thing often starts. Unless a judge wants this to continue, he’ll take a pro-active approach by: 1) Ordering Byler to pay a large fine and then, sentence him to serious jail time with MANDATORY drug rehabilitation. As for the local Bishops and Amish parents: Perhaps the Bishops should make it clear that Rumspringa WILL come to an end should this sort of behavior continue?? And as for the parents, “turning a blind eye” to a child’s activities never saved a human life. Maybe law enforcement should speak to the Bishops and parents in these communities?? Just my thoughts . . .
First DUI Offense
In Pennsylvania the penalty for DUI depends on a couple of things. How many DUI offenses the person has had and how high their BAC is. If it’s his first offense and his BAC was .099 or less the most the judge could do is 6 months probation and $300 fine. Probably also some classes. The judge has to follow guidelines and can’t impose a more strict punishment than is allowed by law.
Rudy Byler, Part 2
Come to think of it, one wonders why the local authorities (in all 30 odd states) don’t simply pass laws outlawing Rumspringa altogether?? Hhmmm . . .
Discriminatory
Because any such laws would be discriminatory and illegal and would almost certainly be overturned immediately. Rumspringa is simply a time for young folks to start dating and exploring the world so they can decide if they want to join the Amish church or not. No way that could be outlawed. If young people happen to get involved in illegal activities during this time, well then those activities are already illegal and can be dealt with accordingly by the local authorities. Also when these young people turn 18 then they are legal adults just like everyone else in the country and can do whatever they want to.
Rudy Byler
Yes, it must be very frustrating for a judge to have to follow guidelines. But perhaps that should be changed?? What you mentioned just seems far too lenient to me. And I understand why people would find things discriminatory. However, the U.S. government didn’t seem to think that Prohibition was discriminatory. Back then it wasn’t just about saving lives, but also about preventing the crime syndicates from “cashing in”. And I am aware that Prohibition was eventually repealed which is too bad. But there ARE a few Plain groups who have said, “No Rumspringa!! Too many problems and much too much temptation for our young people.” I simply wish ALL Plain folks (ALL Americans) would reject alcohol is what I’m trying to say. I’ll simply never understand why people feel alcohol “brings out the flavors in the foods and is okay in moderation.” Mystifies me . . .
Thank you!!
Reply
Sorry to inform you but the “exploring the world” would be incorrect. Amish parents have never and will never encourage their children to do things such as this article….neither is what you see on TV true about Amish kids going out and enjoying the pleasures of the “World”. It is simply a time where children like you said begin dating…and attending youth groups…now what is true is that SOME youth will push the limits but that is not the concept of Rumspringa and the majority of youngie leit (Young People) aren’t doing that. Other than that I don’t think you could neccasirly stop the wild behavior all together but there can be enforcement by the law to make sure that when underage consumption or drugs are involved the children don’t go unpunished.
When I said exploring the world I wasn’t referring to drinking or drug use. I fully understand that every Amish group is different and what is acceptable will differ by group but some young people are allowed to wear non Amish clothing, drive cars, have cell phones, listen to music, etc. That’s what I meant when I said exploring the world.
Yes some youth will push the limits but i also understand that is not the concept of Rumspringa. As far as partying goes I know that’s not the norm amongst Amish youth as a whole, however some communities do have a reputation for being more lenient towards this kind of behavior. Northern Indiana and Geauga County are two that come to mind. Some communities even have a reputation for drinking amongst the adult members. I have heard that in the Adams/Jay community you can find hitching posts for buggies outside of area liquor stores.
Comment
I understand…you are very correct! I just wanted to make sure that people know not every Amish group allows or permits such behavior. Something crazy though is Geauga County is getting better and Holmes County is kind of pushing the line now of having that reputation. It can depend on family to some families who are more restrictive others are more liberal. But in any case I don’t believe they would openly push or accept their children doing this. I hope I didn’t come across rude I was just informing you but it sounds like you got a pretty good grasp of Amish culture as well!
Hey Daniel, I don’t think you were rude and I don’t have a problem clarifying my original comment. I agree with you, I don’t think anyone is out there pushing the more wild behavior on their children. That is interesting to hear about Geauga and Holmes. I guess trends, for lack of a better word, come and go.
Reply
It is the same as out in the world…we have laws against drugs….people still use them. People aren’t to drink and drive they still do drink and drive. It doesn’t take law enforcement to change this because they have tried. What needs to change is the choices youth make and parents aren’t encouraging this and aren’t making it excusable…people will do what they want when they want…it just needs to be in youths heart to choose right from wrong.