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It's Mardi Gras season in New Orleans, and that means a whole lot of fun for most people,
but trouble for some people. As a criminal defense attorney for 20 years, I've certainly
helped hundreds of people get themselves out of trouble during Mardi Gras, but I've also
learned an number of ways to try to help people stay out of trouble in the first place during
this time of year, and I wanted to offer a few tips about that.
The first tip would be to try to drink responsibly. Inevitably, Mardi Gras leads to people drinking
less responsibly than they otherwise would, but in my experience 90% of problems that
arise during this time of year arise because people have had too much to drink. So to the
extent that you can manage that, I think you can avoid a lot of the problems that I'm about
to discuss.
The second general tip for things to avoid are rowdy and obnoxious confrontations with
other individuals, whether they are verbal or whether they escalate to physical confrontations,
aggressive or obnoxious behavior toward other people is generally going to result in some
kind of involvement, and potential criminal problems for you.
That is especially true with respect to confrontations with police officers. There are a lot of police
officers that are going to be out on the street during Mardi Gras. They are going to be asking
you to move. They are going to be asking you to stop doing certain things. You may feel
that you have a right to be where you are, or to be doing the thing that you are doing,
but you are not going to win that argument with a police officer. So, just kindly listen
and move on.
There are also some general parade behavior tips that I can give you. Don't throw things
at the floats or riders on the floats. That includes beads, cups, beverages - any thing
like that. Don't try to jump on a Mardi Gras float. You will get yourself into a lot of
trouble for that. It's also very dangerous - you can get hurt.
This year police are more aggressively enforcing the ladder and chair ordinances - that is
the fact that ladders need to be back off the street anywhere from 6-10 feet. No one
has a tape measure, but just a reasonable amount off the street, such that if someone
fell off the ladder they wouldn't fall directly into the path of an oncoming vehicle or float.
Also, no chairs in the side streets between the neutral ground. Police are enforcing that
a lot more this year. I've already been out to a few parades and seen that happening.
So if you do find yourself in a situation of being arrested or cited for one of these
violations, my advice to you would be to get an attorney involved. An attorney can help
to get the charges dismissed or reduced, can appear in court for you if you are from out
of town and can't make it to court. If you are flying out of town before your court date,
contact an attorney.
There is also a lot more information about all of this in various places on my website,
so feel free to browse around and check that out. Give me a call if you want to talk about
it. I am always interested and available to answer questions and give people advice. Above
all, have a very safe and happy Mardi Gras. Enjoy yourselves.