Get stopped for DUI?

[kadee79]

But you aren't drunk?...don't take the breathalyzer test....

A million Americans a year are arrested for drunken driving, and most stops begin the same way: flashing blue lights in the rearview mirror, then a battery of tests that might include standing on one foot or reciting the alphabet.

What matters most, though, happens next. By the side of the road or at the police station, the drivers blow into a miniature science lab that estimates the concentration of alcohol in their blood. If the level is 0.08 or higher, they are all but certain to be convicted of a crime.



But those tests — a bedrock of the criminal justice system — are often unreliable, a New York Times investigation found. The devices, found in virtually every police station in America, generate skewed results with alarming frequency, even though they are marketed as precise to the third decimal place.



Judges in Massachusetts and New Jersey have thrown out more than 30,000 breath tests in the past 12 months alone, largely because of human errors and lax governmental oversight. Across the country, thousands of other tests also have been invalidated in recent years.

www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/these-machines-can-put-you-in-jail-dont-trust-them/ar-AAJLCqe?li=BBnb7Kz

[Tennesseer]

Thank goodness I stopped drinking thirty years ago.

[happyhoix]

My niece got stopped in Georgia a couple years ago. It was not late at night, she had not been drinking. They did the blow in tube test and she passed without an issue, but the cop made her do one of those field sobriety tests where you walk along a straight line, and he said she failed. My niece has anxiety and OCD so she takes an anti-anxiety drug, so when the cop (very young, rude and cocky, according to my niece) asked her if she took any prescription drugs, she said yes. He took her to jail for being under the influence of a drug, since she failed the 'walk a straight line' test. (According to him).

My sister and her husband had to come bail her out, and they spent the next two years paying legal fees and going to court. Niece did a blood test that showed she had nothing illegal in her system. Her doctor wrote the court a letter telling them that the drug my niece took did not cause someone to be impaired while driving. The first lawyer they hired told my niece to just plead to a misdemeanor, but my niece works in the education system and couldn't have any infractions on her record, so they hired a second lawyer (more money spent) who was willing to dispute the charges, and eventually they were able to get the charges dismissed.

Both lawyers told my sister that people driving with any kind of Rx at all - blood pressure, cholesterol, whatever - could and were being cited for driving under the influence of a drug. It was all a money generation scheme for the county. If you weren't willing to contest it, you ended up with a misdemeanor and had to pay a fine.

My niece inherited $2000 from her grandma when she died, and ended up spending all of that plus some getting off of this bogus charge.

[swamp]

Does the article mention that your license will be revoked for a year with no possibility of a hardship/limited license if you refuse the test?  

[oped]

Swamp do most go to court based only in a breathalyzer or is that just the screening for who gets a blood test?

[swamp]

Nov 4, 2019 12:18:39 GMT -5 oped said:

Swamp do most go to court based only in a breathalyzer or is that just the screening for who gets a blood test?

blood or urine is only if there is an injury so a breath test is impractical.   Or if the unit is out of service, or if drugs are suspected.   A breath test can't test for drugs. 

The article mentioned 30,000 breath tests were thrown out, but then later says there are 1,000,000 drunk driving arrests.  that's 3%.  

The article is over sensationalized and stupid. 

[kadee79]

Nov 4, 2019 13:21:36 GMT -5 swamp said:

Nov 4, 2019 12:18:39 GMT -5 oped said:

Swamp do most go to court based only in a breathalyzer or is that just the screening for who gets a blood test?

blood or urine is only if there is an injury so a breath test is impractical.   Or if the unit is out of service, or if drugs are suspected.   A breath test can't test for drugs. 

The article mentioned 30,000 breath tests were thrown out, but then later says there are 1,000,000 drunk driving arrests.  that's 3%.  

The article is over sensationalized and stupid. 

All of what I quoted here may be true...but your other post is not correct in every state either....different states, different laws.

[kadee79]

Had a lawyer friend in Ill. who got several off of speeding tickets due to one officer tagging them with the gun while another officer chased them down & stopped/ticketed them...that was hearsay since the officer stopping them wasn't also operating the gun.