Washington legislature has passed Senate Bill 5000, otherwise known as Hailey’s Law, which will take effect on July 1st. This law is named after Hailey French, who was seriously hurt after being hit head on by a drunk driver, Janine Parker, who had previously been arrested for a DUI earlier that day, the Bellingham Herald reports.
Parker was not booked into jail after her initial DUI, nor was her vehicle impounded. Parker resumed driving later that day and caused the crash with Hailey French.
After the accident, Hailey sued Washington State Patrol and Whatcom County. She was awarded $5.5 million dollars.
Hailey’s Law provides that if the driver of a vehicle is the registered owner of the vehicle and is arrested for a DUI, they cannot pick up their vehicle for 12 hours. There is an exception if there are two registered owners, the non-cited owner can pick up the vehicle from impound. If the owner of the vehicle was not the DUI offender, they are able to pick up their vehicle immediately.