How you handle a police encounter in a possible DUI situation can have a significant impact on the outcome, whether you’re intoxicated or not. Which test you submit to can make a difference in the evidence compiled against you, so it’s important to know the difference. Here are some tips on how to responsibly handle being pulled over for a suspected DUI.
Which Test Should You Take?
Lawyers may give you different advice on whether to submit to a field sobriety test or a breathalyzer, while many may advise you to forego both and opt for a urine or blood test.
Field Sobriety Tests
A standardized field sobriety evaluation consists of three different tests: the horizontal gaze nystagmus (HGN)–also known as the follow-the-finger test; the walk and turn (WAT)–also known as “heel to toe;” and the one leg stand (OLS). There is no rule saying you have to submit to the field sobriety tests. However, be advised that refusing to take one could land you in jail; the payoff is that not taking the test may results in less incriminating evidence against you. There are arguments for both sides so know you’re rights.
Chemical Tests
Tips For Handling a Police Encounter
- Have your license and registration ready. You know you’ll be asked to show your license, registration, and insurance card if you get pulled over, so have them where you can get them quickly. Fumbling is one of the things an officer might write down in a report, so you’ll definitely want to know where your documents are when it’s time.
- Don’t talk too much. Never make any statements that may admit guilt. When a cop asks you how much you’ve been drinking, you can simply answer that you’ve been advised by a lawyer not to answer such questions. If you are on medications that could impair your driving or have a medical condition, this could make defending against a DUI easier.
- Use your phone call. If you are taken into a police station, call a friend. Allowing someone to hear that you are not slurring words can be useful later at trial–even more useful, however, would be a voice message left on your own phone showing that you were obviously coherent at the time.
- Take note of the details. When you get home, write down everything that happened while it’s fresh in your mind. “I don’t remember what happened that night,” will not help you in court.
7 comments
Taryn J. White
The tips listed here for dealing with the police for a DUI stop are helpful. It seems when a driver is arrested and has to fightDUIcharges in court, a lawyer will be much more likely to help when the person followed those steps mentioned.
Zev Goldstein
If you are driving drunk, you have more problems then the charges, however I have seen cases of cops out to charge people with drunk driving for no reason other then a simple traffic infraction.
One defense you can use is asking for a attorney, being that if the officer does not inform you that you do not have a right to a attorney yet, the refusal can not be held against you for the one year suspension. (This is the law in NY, I don't know about other states.)
(This is not legal advice, go sue someone else:))
doublellnfl
This is a wonderful idea show and tell all the DUI drivers how to possibly maybe beat a system designed to keep them from fatal accidents with a motor vehicle, really nice, with luck the drunk you save with your advice will be out partying get intoxicated again and impact your family's vehicle with catastrophic results, then lets see what you have to say then..
George
The clearly drunk are usually also clearly stupid. Too stupid to prepare for being arrested. I used to have a lawyer friend who defended DUIs and watched the videos he got from police "interviews" with the defendants.
He successfully defended one guy who was drunkenly crying in his video and that did not move the judge to convict. The guy was arrested again, exactly one week later at the same place by the same cop on the same offense. dum dee dum dum
klkl
i tuned out once i saw the phone call myth listed.. nobody who is arrested has a "right" to make any calls, it is an urban myth. this isn't the movies.
Blain is the Name
California Code Penal Section 851.5(a) states, "Immediately upon being booked, and, except where physically impossible, no later than three hours after arrest, an arrested person has the right to make at least three completed telephone calls, as described in subdivision (b)."
You're right, no one is allowed just one phone call when arrested and booked, they're allowed 3...at least in CA.
Tony McDonald
Generally speaking, failure to take a test will result in an arrest but the state will not have evience to offer at trial beyond the observations of the officer so a convition will be difficult to obtain. Faiure to take a blood/breath/urine test will result in a suspension of your license in most states under the "administrative per se laws" but you may get reinstated in as short as 2 weeks. In short, take no tests and use your phone call to contact a lawyer for advice. In any event, overweight people frequently fail the Heel to toe and one leg stand even when sober and 4% of the population have a natural nystagmus.