DUI/DWI laws vary state by state, but yes in many states if a person is in the driver's seat, even if the keys are not in the ignition and the car is not turned on, they can be facing DUI/DWI charges, if they are impaired. There have been DUI charges on people who were riding "horses" while drunk....http://www.wkyt.com/home/headlines/Man-on-horse-arrested-for-DUI-170100436.html
Yes, they are showing him doing that walk on the line etc. How many mainstream athletes you see a mugshot and a video? The perception of him looking like he had lost everything and hitting the skids is terrible.
On "Entertainment Tonight" they just showed jail footage of Tiger. The media is milking da fuck outta this story. This is definitely a agenda against Tiger. EDIT: Inside Edition segment:
I have a close friend (an attorney) who now teaches. Once we were talking about DWI, and her advice... If you ever find yourself too drunk to drive... She said that if you must stay in your case to sleep it off, etc... the best course of action is to put the ignition keys in your pocket, and sit in the back seat of the car.
I think the media blew this up because of how quickly tiger has fallen from his "squeaky clean" "cablinasian" image. Not so nefarious, just an interesting story. I'm no expert on celebrity, but I think other "falls from grace" get covered pretty closely too... Hard to know, because there's no way to keep track of all the dirt that happens that doesn't get covered... All in all, though, I don't see tiger being treated unfairly here. Media is going to be media... Wouldn't make sense for them to ignore such a "juicy" story...