Polite and Respectful During DWI Stops – Durham DWI Lawyer

During a traffic stop, it is to common for individuals forget that they have the right to remain silent and can refrain from answering any and all questioning. It is important to remember that the police do not have an obligation to inform those individual that they stop of these or any other rights, unless of course the officer takes that person into custody. If you have been stopped and you are concerned about what you may have said to an officer, you need to call a Durham Criminal Lawyer at (919) 313-2729.

One of the most common police stops where individuals fail to exercise their constitutional rights is when they are stopped for DWI or Drunk Driving.

If an officer identifies a vehicle that is swerving, that officer may suspect that someone is driving while intoxicated. An officer’s simple suspicion of a vehicle being driven by an individual who is intoxicated is insufficient for the police to arrest that person for DWI.

If an officer has stopped a vehicle, an arrest cannot be carried out unless that officer can identify something more. The most important part of this stop is what you do during this stop. If the driver admits during questioning that he has consumed alcohol that this admission is enough for the officer to arrest the driver.

If the officer requests that the driver exit the vehicle and perform a standardized field sobriety tests (SFST) that test is giving the officer more information regarding the sobriety, or the lack thereof, of the driver. DWI cases are built on what information the officer can get from the driver where questioning or via field-testing.

Avoiding arrest in a DWI situation could involve a driver telling an officer that he will not answer any questions without a lawyer present. Additionally, you are allowed to refuse a standardized field sobriety tests (SFST). This refusal will prohibit the officer from gathering field-test results and the driver has a better chance in their DWI case.

The most important thing to remember is that being polite and respectful to the officer can go along way in your case. Remember to be both polite and respect when refusing to perform standardized field sobriety testing. But the bear in mind that a refusal to undergo the chemical analysis test performed post-arrest at the jail will probably mean an automatic suspension of the person’s license for a year.