How Can the Police Tell If I Am Impaired?

Certainly, a law enforcement officer with years of DUI-DWI arrests and with advanced extensive training in DUI-DWI evaluations and arrests is much more likely to be able to distinguish an impaired driver from a driver who is unimpaired and safe to drive.

However, without proof of advanced training, an officer’s years of experience are not a guarantee of the officer’s competence level.

Some officers will arrest ANY motorist who has the smell of alcohol on his or her breath when the person declines to participate in so-called “voluntary” field sobriety evaluations. Sometimes these arrests are made out of spite or in an abundance of caution, to assure that no impaired person drives away from the scene and kills someone else further down the road.

Such arrests can be overturned and the DUI-DWI case dismissed as a result of pre-trial proceedings. If not resolved during the pre-trial phase, your chances of acquittal at trial are probably excellent.

Any arrests that are made with little or no proof of the typical “manifestations” of drunken behavior or symptoms should be challenged by your attorney. The usual items cited by the police point out the smell of alcohol, admission to drinking, slurred speech, loss of balance, and glazed or red bloodshot eyes. Reviewing this list will reveal why REMAINING SILENT can be critical in your quest for acquittal.

Your drunk driving attorney may or may not be able to obtain background information regarding the law enforcement officer who made the determination to arrest you for DUI-DWI. This information may be unavailable at a pre-trial hearing or prior to your trial beginning.

Many specialists in this field share transcripts on officers and assist fellow criminal defense lawyers in an effort to assure that all citizens obtain justice in these politically charged and often unfair legal proceedings. We have a lot of proven ways to challenge and overcome police evidence, including challenging why you were stopped in the first place, and what happened after the officer began a DUI investigation. An arrest is not a conviction!