A 28 year old Silver Spring man was convicted of Driving While Impaired by a Queen Anne’s County Jury on March 27, 2017. Yusuf Adem was sentenced to 60 days of incarceration at the Queen Anne’s County Detention Center, will all but 20 days suspended. He was placed on 36 months probation. Deputy State’s Attorney Michael “Mick” Cuches prosecuted the case.
On Saturday, August 14, 2016 at approximately 1:51 am, a Maryland State Trooper was on duty and traveling west on Rt. 50 on the Kent Narrows Bridge when he noticed a vehicle traveling in the slow lane with a bright white light emitting from the rear of the vehicle. The Trooper caught up to the vehicle and also obtained a speed reading of 70 mph on the vehicle and noticed the car was swerving onto the shoulder then back into the lane of travel.
A traffic stop was initiated on the vehicle and the Trooper found Mr. Adem to be the driver. He was accompanied by two other individuals. A strong odor of alcohol was emitting from the car and Mr. Adem’s eyes were bloodshot. The Trooper also observed an orange wrist band on Mr. Adem that said “The Jetty Dock Bar”. Mr. Adem denied drinking any alcohol, but when the Trooper asked Mr. Adem to step from the car he observed a large bulge in his front pocket and the Trooper found a half empty bottle of “Hennessy Cognac”. The Trooper continued to smell a strong odor of alcohol coming from Mr. Adem’s breath. Mr. Adem then admitted that he had been drinking, but now says he had just one beer.
Mr. Adem refused to perform any roadside field sobriety tests. Nevertheless, based on Mr. Adem’s poor driving, admission to drinking alcohol, the strong odor of alcohol on his breath, the presence of an open and half empty bottle of liquor on his person, Mr. Adem was arrested for suspicion of drunk driving. Mr. Adem fell asleep on the way to the State Police Barracks and after being awakened refused to submit to a chemical breath test.
At trial the Trooper testified that his observations of Mr. Adem in the early morning hours of August 14 led him to believe that Mr. Adem was drunk. The defendant’s attorney called two witnesses to the stand who indicated that they did not observe Mr. Adem drinking any alcohol that evening. It was pointed out by Deputy State’s Attorney Cuches that these witnesses were friends of Mr. Adem.
“Mick” Cuches commended the work of Trooper First Class Schillaci on this case. Mr. Adem had previously received a probation before judgment for an alcohol related driving offense in 2015 from another jurisdiction.