Atlantic Beach is built for nights out — the Circle, the beach bars, the Fourth of July crowds — and there are exactly two roads off the island. Every local knows what that means: the causeway and the bridge are where impaired-driving enforcement concentrates, on weekend nights and holiday weekends especially. A large share of the people charged there are visitors who will be back home in another town, or another state, long before their court date in Beaufort.
If you’re a visitor
Your case will be heard at the Carteret County courthouse in Beaufort regardless of where you live — but your defense doesn’t require you to move in. We handle appearances where the law allows, keep you informed at every step, and tell you honestly what a first DWI charge actually means, including the 30-day license revocation that’s already running and the limited driving privilege that softens it. One thing we’ll never do is treat a vacation mistake as a character verdict — these cases are defended on their facts, not their embarrassment.
If your stop was at the bridge
Checkpoint cases have their own law: a checkpoint must follow a written policy and serve a proper purpose, and when it doesn’t, the stop — and everything after it — can be challenged. Tell us exactly where and when you were stopped; it matters more than people think.
Charged on the island? Call 252-728-1373 or tell us what happened — our office is directly across the street from the courthouse where your case will be heard, and we’ve defended Carteret County DWI cases for more than seventeen years. More about our work in town: Atlantic Beach criminal defense.