Home From War with TBI, Vet Battles DUI Rap

Home From War with TBI, Vet Battles DUI Rap

In a Peekskill case with potentially broader implications, an ex-marine maintains a traumatic brain injury, the scourge of today's battlefields, left him unjustly accused of being unfit to drive.

By Tom Bartley
An Iraq combat veteran returns to Peekskill City Court Monday facing a tough choice: plead guilty to driving under the influence of drugs, ending a protracted, costly round of appearances, or demand a trial, which could leave him in legal limbo for another year or more.

What separates Alexander A. Lazos from other DUI defendants, at least for now, is his likely defense. After he brushed another car at a Peekskill gas station last July, police say, Lazos failed to walk a straight line and tested positive for drugs, leading to a charge of driving under their influence. The former marine, however, contends that a 2003 battlefield brain injury caused him to flunk the field sobriety test. The “drugs,” moreover, were doctor-prescribed for his injury and permitted even when driving, Lazos says.
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