False DUI Arrest [Do I Have Any Rights?]

Pulled over Sunday night / Monday morning @ 1 AM

Officer says I have been driving 'erratic' and believes I have been drinking.

Not the case at all. Nobody on the road so I may have did a lane switch without a turn signal, but to be honest, I doubt even that.
Wasn't drinking so no smell of alcohol or slurred speech.

They get you out of the car to do a 'sobriety test'. IMO this is just so another office can 'search your car' while you're on the side of the road trying to walk heel-toe for 9 steps and pivot. I didn't do well there but I didn't fall over or anything like that either.

Breathalyzer time. 0.00

The police tell me they are going to take me to the police station to meet with a 'drug recognition expert'. Shall we tow your car? Please do not do that.

We wait half an hour for the 'DRE'. At one point while we are waiting for the 'DRE' to arrive I realize I have been in conversation with this cop for 20 minutes and he HAS TO know at this point I am not drunk, high or on anything.

The DRE takes your pulse and blood pressure and asks some questions. He tells me that I have a 'green tongue' and that is a sure
signal I have been smoking marijuana this evening. I haven't picked up a joint in 25-30 years. OH COME ON was his response back, I assume they 'try' for a confession of some kind?

Off to the hospital for bloodwork (drug test). Haven't gotten it back. It will yield nothing though.

Back to the police station I am given a slip of paper with an address on it. Your car is there.

I call a taxi and my car is there but I can't get it. It's been IMPOUNDED.

I have the taxi take me to a motel down the highway ($35 bill)

I walk into the room and the first thing I check -- do I have a green tongue? Of course not. My tongue is pink.

$125 towing, $45 for 'storage' , $70 taxi bill (up and back) $75 motel bill.

Do we really operate like this? To be honest if I was driving down at 5 PM none of this would have happened, but because it was 1 AM things were handled very carelessly. You can't imagine how pissed I am.

Damn.

I had a friend staying with me for a few weeks. One night he didn't come home. His wife called me the next day and asked if I could go get him out of jail. He got a dui. Basically a training officer was looking for dui's and pulled him over so the new officer could get experience. His blood alcohol level was .02....Well below the .08 legal limit.

Damn bro, just a question, are you white?

If your BAC was 0.00, and the blood-test doesn't indicate anything --- more than likely, prosecutor won't pursue. So that's the good news.

The bad news --- you're already out the money & time.

As you've kinda discovered --- while DUI laws & enforcement provide some safety, they've also become an easy-target revenue stream for police/sheriff departments.

wow that blows, seems to me after going fishing for a bit they would pull back and count it as lost time and move on

Get a lawyer and take care of it the right way. If what you are saying is true you have rights. Handle this calmly and the correct way and you will be just fine and may even be given something for your troubles.

Race and Color should not matter. I hope you don't even answer that question, because either way it should not matter.

razorbackpicks said:

Get a lawyer and take care of it the right way. If what you are saying is true you have rights. Handle this calmly and the correct way and you will be just fine and may even be given something for your troubles.

Race and Color should not matter. I hope you don't even answer that question, because either way it should not matter.

Click to expand...

It should not razorbackpicks but it does as racial profiling is the common in DUI stops

razorbackpicks said:

Get a lawyer and take care of it the right way. If what you are saying is true you have rights. Handle this calmly and the correct way and you will be just fine and may even be given something for your troubles.

Race and Color should not matter. I hope you don't even answer that question, because either way it should not matter.

Click to expand...

Get a lawyer for what? If a cop pulls you over because he thinks you're drinking and driving, it is what it is. Not a good situation but can't do much.

Don't waste money on a lawyer. I would file a complaint with the department though.

Too late now, but you rarely gain/accomplish anything by performing the physical tests --- walking the line, touching your nose, etc.

1) Some officers will misjudge or misinterpret your performance --- hey, your ankle wobbled for one second! You must be shit-faced! Nevermind you're performing the test @ 2am, nevermind you might be walking on gravel or uneven ground/pavement, nevermind you might be wearing dress shoes (or worse, high heels), nevermind the tests aren't "natural" to begin with.
2) Some officers don't give a shit --- even if you perform at the level of Olympic gymnast, they've already determined you're DUI.

When you perform the tests, you're taking the risk of *really* screwing up (like falling on your face) --- and you're also giving the officer the opportunity to note/report your behavior. In other words, you're providing the officer with evidence (evidence that is *substantially* subjective & biased).

Enfuego said:

Get a lawyer for what? If a cop pulls you over because he thinks you're drinking and driving, it is what it is. Not a good situation but can't do much.

Don't waste money on a lawyer. I would file a complaint with the department though.

Click to expand...

Exactly. There is no case. It will get dismissed before ever going to court. Been in a much worse situation and my case got thrown out without ever going to a courtroom.

Here you go --- according to the Clemson study, the field-tests are basically a crapshoot.

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/local/professor-dui-field-tests-designed-fail/nFdKg/

Professor: DUI field tests designed to fail
By Richard Belcher

ATLANTA — When police officers stop a suspected drunk driver, they usually ask the driver to take a field sobriety test, but Channel 2 Action News spoke to some critics who said the tests are designed to fail.


Georgia drivers are not legally required to take a field sobriety test. Channel 2 Action News investigative reporter Richard Belcher looked into whether or not the tests work to provide valid evidence of a person's ability to drive.


"You can tell within a few minutes of doing the three tests whether or not someone is impaired by alcohol and or drugs," said Corporal Michael Blute with the Gwinnett County Police DUI Task Force.


The tests are used by police agencies all over the country and often require subjects to walk putting one foot in front of another, or standing holding one foot off the ground or take a nistagmus test, where drivers are asked to follow an officer's finger with his or her eyes.


"I would never recommend anyone take a field sobriety test," said Dr. Spurgeon Cole a retired psychology professor at Clemson University.


Cole is an expert in the study of measurements and a skeptic about the value of field sobriety tests.


"It is designed to fail. It's designed to fail. There are no norms, there is no average score. We have no idea what the average person could do on the one leg with the heel to toe," said Cole.


Cole told Belcher he has been studying the validity of the test since the 1980s and is convinced they are neither reliable nor valid.


"If you use all of them, and do them right. You are only 26 percent better than chance, 74 percent as much error as you would be if you just randomly guessed," said Cole.


Cole told Belcher the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which developed the tests in the 1970s, conducted one study in which trained police officers viewed field sobriety tests then incorrectly identified 47 percent of the drivers as intoxicated.


Blute said he is certain the tests are accurate.


http://bcove.me/j07x44mf

"All three tests, validation studies have been proven over 90 percent. If the three tests battery is done and interpreted correctly, then you make a correct arrest decision," said Blute.


"The best thing to do is politely say, 'No thank you. I don't want to try to do those,’" said lawyer William Bubba Head.


Head is one of the most accomplished DUI defense lawyers in the country. Head told Belcher drivers should not be tempted just because the field sobriety tests seem simple.


"People get out there and suddenly they find out the road has rocks, glass, pebbles. They got a tractor trailer going by at 70 miles per hour on the interstate and they can't believe they're standing out there," said Head.


Critics like Head and Cole contend that officers rarely employ the field tests to conclude that a driver is not impaired.


Larry Hanawalt of Mothers Against Drunk Drivers disputes that.


"Watching officers in the past at roadside sobriety checkpoints, people have done the field sobriety tests and the officers have thanked them and let them go on their way," said Hanawalt.


"I've probably stopped and done field sobriety evaluations probably more than 4,000 times in my career and have made less than 1,000 DUI arrests," said Blute.


The field sobriety test is not mandatory in Georgia, but a blood alcohol test is mandatory.

When you see a DUI story in the news...........if the driver was a judge, lawyer, police, politician --- note how often they *don't* perform the field-test, and note how often they refuse the breathalyzer.

They know how to play the DUI game.

Enfuego said:

Get a lawyer for what? If a cop pulls you over because he thinks you're drinking and driving, it is what it is. Not a good situation but can't do much.

Don't waste money on a lawyer. I would file a complaint with the department though.

Click to expand...

theyve got to have reasons to detain you. You can not be held without reason and they can not stall to search for a reason.
Once you blew 0.00 it should be over. Also, they should be able to do that onsite and not having to haul you downtown

I am a white male.

I didn't even think of the 'training an officer' angle but that almost has to be it.

The breathalyzer was done 'roadside'.

I don't get the impounding of the car. Completely ridiculous.

I am thinking I can try small claims court to at least try to get my money back.

If you refuse the sobriety tests don't you lose your license?

You just got filed over by the establishment....welcome to the club....

Did this happen in Philly or the suberbs?

The Funk Monkey said:

When you see a DUI story in the news...........if the driver was a judge, lawyer, police, politician --- note how often they *don't* perform the field-test, and note how often they refuse the breathalyzer.

They know how to play the DUI game.

Click to expand...

refusing breathalyzer is like an automatic 2 year suspension in pa

razorbackpicks said:

theyve got to have reasons to detain you. You can not be held without reason and they can not stall to search for a reason.
Once you blew 0.00 it should be over. Also, they should be able to do that onsite and not having to haul you downtown

Click to expand...

They do have reason to detain you if probably cause exists for the officer to believe you're impaired. His word against yours.

Had to be some small hick town.

Judge Wapner said:

Had to be some small hick town.

Click to expand...

Penndel PA [Philly suburb]

yeah it is unless its the 80's-2000's and your last name is Sandusky or Paterno

tanner12oz said:

refusing breathalyzer is like an automatic 2 year suspension in pa

Click to expand...