It is common knowledge that someone may be charged with DWI if he or she is driving a vehicle while impaired. However it is possible to be charged with DWI without ever driving the vehicle. At first glance you are probably wondering how that even works if you never drove a vehicle, and after all the crime is called “driving while impaired.” North Carolina allows for the crime of aiding and abetting a DWI. If someone is convicted of aiding and abetting a DWI the punishment is equivalent to what level DWI the driver is charged with.
Someone is guilty of aiding and abetting when he or is “present, actually or constructively, with the intent to aid the perpetrators in the commission of the offense should his assistance become necessary and…such intent was communicated to the actual perpetrators.” State v. Sanders, 288 N.C. 285, 290-91 (1975). However just being present in the vehicle at the time of the DWI is not enough. The State would have to show that the passenger either knew or should have known that the driver was impaired and that the passenger somehow participated beyond just being in the vehicle. What exactly that participation level must be may vary depending on the facts in the individual case, but just being aware that the driver had been drinking is likely still not going to be enough. See Smith v. Winn-Dixie Charlotte, Inc., 142 N.C. App. 255 (2001).
With this in mind if you are a passenger in a vehicle where the driver is suspected of DWI be aware that you may face a DWI charge in North Carolina. Remember you do not have to answer police questions which may serve to incriminate you.
