Driver gets 10 months for DUI

Man said he fell asleep and crashed while playing “Pokémon”

REDWOOD CITY — A man who claimed he was taking a break from playing “Pokémon Go” when police found him asleep inside a vehicle lodged in a ditch in Woodside last summer has been sentenced to 10 months in jail for felony driving under the influence, according to prosecutors.

Handed down Friday, the sentence follows Duncan Burr’s decision last month to change his plea from “not guilty” to “no contest.”

San Mateo County sheriff’s deputies found the 30year-old Redwood City resident at 3:20 a.m. on July 22, 2016, after receiving a call from a resident who heard a loud “bang” and then saw a vehicle seemingly stuck behind her house near Jefferson Avenue and Godetia Drive.

Burr appeared to be intoxicated and an open beer can was found inside his vehicle, according to the District Attorney’s Office. He reportedly told a deputy he had been playing “Pokémon Go” with friends in the area before deciding to take a nap in his vehicle.

Prosecutors said Burr initially denied he had been drinking but ultimately confessed to having one beer. More than an hour after deputies found Burr, his blood-alcohol content was measured at 0.15 percent at the San Mateo County Jail, according to prosecutors.

Burr, who admitted to prior convictions, could see his 10-month sentence modified to a residential treatment program after he serves 60 days in jail, according to prosecutors.

Majeed Samara, Burr’s private defense attorney, said his client has been in rehab for the past six months and is working hard to become a “better member of the community.”

“This happened almost a year ago and he hasn’t had a drop of alcohol since,” Samara said. “I think he’s one of those guys who will go through the court system and will never come back again as a criminal defendant . ... He is a good guy. He has a good heart.”

In addition to time behind bars, Burr was ordered to serve five years of supervised probation, complete a treatment program, abstain from alcohol, and pay $2,229 in fines and fees.