Many Pennsylvania residents believe that they can only be arrested and charged with DUI if they are driving a car or truck while under the influence of alcohol. However, as shown by a recent case, that is not the case. Pennsylvanians can be arrested for driving drunk on a wide variety of vehicles including, but not limited to, motorized wheelchairs.

Last week, a Pennsylvania woman learned the lesson the hard way when she was charged with DUI after Middlesex Township police allegedly found her driving her motorized wheelchair with a blood alcohol content above the legal limit of 0.08 percent.

According to police reports, they were called to the Country Manor mobile home park in Middlesex Township at approximately 4:30 a.m. on reports that a woman was crawling around in a resident's yard. When officers arrived, they allegedly discovered the 63-year-old woman intoxicated and sitting in her motorized wheelchair.

The woman reportedly told police that she had been driving her wheelchair around the park when she crashed and flipped the vehicle onto its side, throwing her off and causing minor injuries. She was able to right the wheelchair and climb back on when police arrived.

Police took the woman to Carlisle Regional Medical Center for treatment of her injuries. She also submitted to a blood test. Police later arrested and charged her with driving under the influence with a blood alcohol content of 0.16 percent or higher, as well as public drunkenness. A few days later, the District Attorney's Office stated that it had decided to drop the DUI charge against the woman, although she will still be prosecuted on the public drunkenness charge.

Source: The Carlisle Sentinel, "DUI charges dropped against woman in motorized wheelchair," 22 July 2011