i'm often asked the question what should i do if i'm stopped under the suspicion of driving
under the influence of alcohol
well my short answer is do as little as possible
if you are stopped by the police it is usually because they have a suspicion
that your driving might be impaired
they noticed something erratic about you're driving
perhaps it's speeding maybe going too slow or crossing over a yellow line
whatever may be the case
when you are stopped under suspicion
chances are you're going to be arrested
this is because if they let you go and you get into an accident
and either you get killed or kill somebody else
they know they're going to be sued and there are a multitude of cases to back this up
therefore after you have been stopped the police officer because he or she only has suspicion
needs to develop something called probable cause in order to make an arrest
everything the police officer does from the moment he or she activates the blue lights
is designed to develop that probable cause and anything that you might do
also will help them develop that probable cause
first what you should do
the moment you see the blue lights activated
stop as quickly and as safely as possible
this is going to prevent the police officer from being able to say
that you didn't
obey instructions quickly enough or that you almost hit two or three vehicles
on the way to stopping
also prior to the police officer getting to your window find your registration and license
and have them in your hand
this will prevent the police officer from being able to testify
%uh you weren't be able to find your registration you fumbled around
and %uh
%uh basically that you did not have have proper eye hand coordination
and you were unable to follow instructions in being able to do that as well
only open your window a very few inches
and when asked hand out the license and registration
this will prevent the officer from being able to make that famous statement in court
that when you opened your window a strong odor of alcohol hit them
remember even if you've only had one drink it might smell like you've had ten drinks
the odor of one drink it can be very damaging
if the officer asks you if you've been drinking
you may refuse to answer
you simply say
i don't want any answer any questions officer
the supreme court a long time ago %uh
handed down a case in which they said
that miranda rights those rights
telling you that you don't have to answer any questions right
are not applicable to roadside
%uh sobriety situations therefore the officer is not going to tell you that you have a right
to refuse to answer questions i'm telling you that now you may say i do not want to
answer that question
the worst thing you can say by the way it is that i only had a couple of beers well
because i'll tell you why
there's not a jury in the world that believes it
so it's better to say nothing
if the officer asks you to step out of the vehicle
it is only a request it cannot be an order
an officer may not order you out of a vehicle unless he or she has a suspicion that you have
weapons on you
therefore you may refuse to get out of the vehicle
the officer is going to make it sound like an order but remember it's not
and you may and should refuse
what you say to the officer is officer I'm not going to get out of this vehicle
unless I'm under arrest
now the officer might say the reason why we want you to get out of the car is to perform
something called a field sobriety test
do not take the field sobriety test
they are designed
to make you fail
and by the way in some states such as massachusetts the fact that you refused to take a field sobriety
test
cannot be used against you in court
and cannot be told to the jury
if the officer does decide to arrest you there's another occasion in which you may be asked
to take tests
and that is when you meet with the booking officer at the police station
a booking officer is likely also to testify against you
so be careful what you say to him or her
and make the same
refusals
to the booking officer as you made to the arresting officer this includes the request
to take a breathalyzer
don't be mistaken
in thinking that
you could pass
a field sobriety test
or a breathalyzer test
the amount of alcohol under the new laws that
that is %uh
%um required to find you guilty of driving under the influence
is so low now that they're going to take you to court even if you
come near that amount
so don't do it
now the problem of course is once you've
once you've
refused to take a breathalyzer test you are going to lose your license for a hundred and twenty days
but you know something that's better than giving that damaging evidence to
the police
and by the way also
the failure to take a breathalyzer test
cannot be used against you in massachusetts
and cannot be told to the jury
so look at the damaging evidence that you're not giving to the to the police officer you're
not making any damaging admissions
and you're not going to do this
field sobriety test that you can't pass and you're not going to take the
%uh breathalizer test
i've never seen a case
where there were no damaging admissions
no breathalizer test
and no field sobriety test
where the defense wasn't successful
good luck i know this is a scary proposition if it happens to you
but try to remember the instructions that i just gave you thank you bye