Why do they say "Just a couple beers" when it's obvious they had much more?

[Archae]

In this case, according to another news report, the guy had "a couple beers" and several vodka mixed drinks.

BROWN COUNTY, Wis. (WBAY) - A De Pere man has been charged with two counts of Homicide by Intoxicated Use of a Vehicle for the deaths of a mother and daughter in Lawrence.

David Earl Meyer, 46, appeared in court Friday. He's being held on a $50,000 cash bond.

Meyer is accused of driving drunk and hitting Rebecca L. Pennenberg, 44, and Raelia R. Pennenberg, 18, on French Road, south of County Highway S.

The mother and daughter were walking on French Road at approximately 7:30 p.m. when Meyer crashed into them, according to investigators.

The Pennenberg women were pronounced dead at the scene.
A criminal complaint obtained by Action 2 News shows Meyer registered a .219 on a preliminary breath test. The legal limit to drive in Wisconsin is .08.

"It's just not worth it. This is a tragedy and it could've been prevented. I'ts sad for the family and it's sad for everyone involved. And it's just a tragedy. It's sad for the community," says Lt. Dan Van Lanen, Hobart-Lawrence Police Dept.

As officers tended to the Pennenberg women, they saw Meyer standing a few feet away from the crash scene. He "appeared very distraught and kept saying he was sorry," according to the criminal complaint.

Meyer told police that he didn't see the women before it was too late. The women were walking on the west side of the center line.

Meyer said he crossed the center line and hit them.

Police said the odor of alcohol on Meyer's breath was "very strong."

Meyer told police that he had been at a golf outing and had "a couple beers."

http://www.wbay.com/content/news/Two-women-killed-by-car-on-Lawrence-frontage-road-440967713.html

[Warren DeMontague]

1. Given the appalling lack of judgment drunk people are clearly capable of

why would lying in addition come as any surprise?

Anyway, not to be flip. Terrible and sad story. I had a friend killed by a drunk driver.

If you're incapacitated in any way, don't get behind the wheel. Period. And now with Uber, Lyft, etc there are even more alternatives, so you have even less of an excuse.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

2. Most people stopped for a DUI

(and I'm just talking an ordinary traffic stop here, not a stop after an alcohol-fueled crash) deny that they've had that much to drink. There's a myth out there that refusing to take a breathalyzer test or the like, somehow lets you off the hook because they don't know what your blood alcohol content is. Au contraire. Such refusal often triggers an assumption of guilt.

[lpbk2713]

3. He did some serious drinking.

If he's over 150 pounds he's off the charts.
The bartender will have some explaining to do.

Link: http://dui.drivinglaws.org/drink-table.php

[Warpy]

4. Alcohol is a bad drug in large quantities

It incapacitates people while making them feel like Superman. If I had a dime for every time drunks have told me they drive better when they've had a few, I could buy a yacht and dig a hole in the backyard to float it in.

So he's got a cheap bond and and he'll probably get a slap on the wrist for killing people while he was completely blotto. He might actually serve a year or two. It's unlikely to change his behavior. Being nearly 3 times the legal limit takes practice.

Whenever someone I'd spotted as a drinker told me what he'd had to drink that day, I knew to triple it. If someone on the healthier side of the line told me what he'd had, I doubled it. I was usually confirmed by their blood work.

[Mosby]

9. Someone served him all those drinks

Serving an intoxicated person is a violation of the liquor laws.

When's the last time you heard of a bar, nightclub, restaurant, etc being prosecuted for serving drunk people? And yet it happens thousands of times per day.

[Warpy]

10. The family of the two women he killed are going to sue the place into bankruptcy

Because yes, somebody was pouring him all those drinks unless he had a quart of vodka in his golf bag. I mention that because hard core alcoholics do things like that.

[Lil Missy]

5. That's what alcoholics say-it's a common denial fact

I speak from experience.

I've been sober since 2009 now.

[elleng]

6. Thanks for saying it.

(and congrats.)

[melman]

7. People think they're going to be able to play it off

Which is something you can never do, but that's what they think.

[Shrike47]

8. Two beers is a standing joke in the criminal justice system. We used to wonder how big those bottles

were. Everybody's story always starts with two beers.

[Warpy]

11. They just don't mention that each beer

helped a pint of cheap vodka go down easier.