Things to Know Before You Get Pulled Over for a DUI

Admissions to Drinking or Using Drugs:

• One of the first questions a police officer will ask you if they suspect you are DUI is, "have you been drinking". You may also be asked this question even if an officer didn't observe you driving, but the officer simply suspects that you were about to or were just driving under the influence. This question is designed to help police convict you. Any admission to drinking alcohol or ingesting drugs will be used at a trial against you. People often mistakenly believe that if they are honest with a police officer because they only drank a little and are not intoxicated, the officer will let them go. This is not the case. The officer is trying to build a case against you and an admission to drinking is strong evidence of DUI.

Agreeing to Participate in Field Sobriety Tests:

• Whether or not your pass field sobriety test (FST) is entirely up to the officer conducting the test. The officer conducting the test has a vested interested in your performance of FST being consistent with their suspicion that you are impaired. Police don't tell you that you are not required to undergo field sobriety tests or that the tests are designed to hurt you later on. Often police will order you to take field sobriety test or make you believe that the tests will help you. They will make you think that if you pass the tests they will let you go. This is not the case. The police are only documenting more evidence to use against you to support their reason to take a sample of your breath or blood and as evidence against you in court.

Agree to a Portable Breath Test:

• The law requires that you submit a sample of your breath or blood to a police officer if they suspect you are DUI. The breath test that is admissible in court is a calibrated Intoxilyzer machine administered after arrest, rather than the portable breath test (PBT) often administered on the side of the road. The PBT is not reliable and not admissible in Court to show levels of intoxication. Police only want you to blow into the device so that they can build a case against you.

Making Statements to Police Officers:

• Police always ask a person stopped for suspected DUI questions that are designed to be used against them later in Court. There are only a few specific questions the law requires you answer. Protect yourself by knowing what you are required to say and what you are not. Call an experienced attorney at MayesTelles.

Having an Open Container in a Vehicle:

• Police will look inside your vehicle with or without a warrant and write a police report that states the search was legal even if it was not. Police are looking for evidence of a DUI such as open containers of alcohol, bar or club receipts, and paraphernalia of drug use. Police consider otherwise normal/non-illegal items as evidence of drug paraphernalia. Police will take pictures of whatever they find to use as evidence against you in Court.

Not Knowing your Constitutional Rights:

• You have constitutional rights, including the right to remain silent, to not incriminate yourself, to not be subject to an illegal search and seizure. Police are trained in tactics to get around your constitutional rights and will not advise you of your rights if they can get away with it. Know your rights, protect yourself, and contact an experienced attorney at MayesTelles PLLC.

The number one reasons why people are convicted of DUI is because they are driving impaired. Be smart, have a designated driver or call a taxi.