State v. Greene

388 P.3d 1132, 283 Or. App. 120, 2016 Ore. App. LEXIS 1655
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedDecember 29, 2016
Docket123672; A154816
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 388 P.3d 1132 (State v. Greene) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Greene, 388 P.3d 1132, 283 Or. App. 120, 2016 Ore. App. LEXIS 1655 (Or. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

ARMSTRONG, P. J.

Defendant appeals a judgment of conviction for driving under the influence of intoxicants (DUII), ORS 813.010, assigning error to the trial court’s denial of his motion for a judgment of acquittal.1 Defendant was convicted of DUII for operating his motorized wheelchair in a crosswalk on a city street while intoxicated. He argues that a person crossing a street in a crosswalk in a motorized wheelchair is a pedestrian and not the operator of a vehicle for purposes of the DUII statutes. The state responds that the meaning of “vehicle” under ORS 813.010 is broad and applies to a motorized wheelchair, including when the wheelchair is being used to cross a street in a crosswalk and, hence, that defendant was subject to the DUII statutes when he drove his wheelchair on the street. Because we conclude that a person operating a motorized wheelchair in a crosswalk is a pedestrian and not the driver of a vehicle for purposes of the DUII statutes, we reverse.

In reviewing the denial of a motion for a judgment of acquittal, we state the facts in the light most favorable to the state. See, e.g., State v. Kirkland, 241 Or App 40, 42, 249 P3d 554 (2011). Defendant left a sidewalk in a motorized wheelchair and began crossing a street in a crosswalk. In doing that, he struck the side of a moving pickup truck and injured himself. At the time of the accident, defendant was impaired by alcohol and other drugs. Based on his impairment, the state charged defendant with DUII for driving his motorized wheelchair on premises open to the public, ORS 813.010.2

[122]*122After the close of the state’s case in a jury trial, defendant moved for a judgment of acquittal, arguing, among other things, that, becáuse he was using his wheelchair in a crosswalk, he was a pedestrian under ORS 801.385 and not subject to the DUII statutes that apply to drivers of motor vehicles.3 According to defendant, had the legislature intended motorized wheelchairs operating in crosswalks to be treated as vehicles, it would have said that explicitly, as it did in enacting ORS 814.500, which treats motorized wheelchairs as bicycles when they are operated on bicycle lanes or paths.4 The state responded that motorized wheelchairs are vehicles under ORS 801.590,5 and, hence, that defendant was the driver of a vehicle under the DUII statutes when he drove his wheelchair in the crosswalk. The trial court concluded that defendant was subject to the DUII statutes when he was crossing the street in his motorized wheelchair and, accordingly, denied his motion for a judgment of acquittal.

A jury convicted defendant of DUII, and he appeals. The issue that we must resolve is whether, and to what extent, the operator of a motorized wheelchair is the driver of a vehicle for purposes of the DUII statutes, which presents a legal question. See, e.g., State v. Spainhower, 251 Or App 25, 27, 283 P3d 361 (2012).

Both parties present tenable constructions of the vehicle code. Defendant’s construction rests on the unremarkable notion that the legislature did not intend pedestrians to be treated as operators of motor vehicles under the vehicle code, and vice versa. Defendant recognizes, however, that an operator of a motorized wheelchair may be subject to [123]*123the DUII statutes when the wheelchair is driven in a bicycle lane. See ORS 814.500 (treating motorized wheelchairs as bicycles when driven on bicycle lanes and paths).6 In other words, notwithstanding ORS 801.385—which defines a pedestrian to include a person “confined in a wheelchair”— defendant acknowledges that the operator of a motorized wheelchair may, in some circumstances, be subject to the DUII statutes as the operator of a vehicle. Conversely, the state’s construction also is plausible: Because the definition of “vehicle” in ORS 801.590 is broad enough to include motorized wheelchairs, the DUII statute, ORS 813.010, applies to operators of motorized wheelchairs when they drive their wheelchairs on premises open to the public. Nonetheless, for the reasons explained below, we agree with defendant’s construction of the applicable statutes.

The vehicle code embodies a basic dichotomy between pedestrians and operators of vehicles. See, e.g., ORS 811.028 (requiring drivers of vehicles to stop for pedestrians in crosswalks); ORS 811.025 (requiring drivers of vehicles to yield to pedestrians on sidewalks); ORS 814.010 (requiring pedestrians crossing at an intersection to obey pedestrian control signals, if they are present at the intersection, and not traffic control signals). Compare ORS 811.295 (requiring vehicles to drive on the right side of the road, with the flow of traffic) with ORS 814.070 (on a two-way highway with no sidewalks, requiring pedestrians to proceed on the far-left edge of the roadway, against the flow of traffic). That dichotomy evinces a legislative intention not to treat a person simultaneously as a pedestrian and the driver of a vehicle, and, accordingly, pedestrians generally are not subject to the provisions of the vehicle code that apply to vehicles and their operators.

Notwithstanding that dichotomy, the state makes two related arguments. First, as noted, it contends that the definition of “vehicle” in ORS 801.590 is broad enough to include motorized wheelchairs and, consequently, to subject [124]*124drivers of motorized wheelchairs to the DUII statutes. Second, it contends that, because the vehicle code in ORS 801.026

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Related

State v. Gayman
492 P.3d 130 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2021)
State v. Boekelheide
469 P.3d 863 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2020)
State v. Gale
446 P.3d 544 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2019)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
388 P.3d 1132, 283 Or. App. 120, 2016 Ore. App. LEXIS 1655, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-greene-orctapp-2016.