Drunk driving is a serious mistake: one that endangers your life as well those of the other road users. But that is not all, a drunk driving can greatly impact your life if the law catches up with you. A conviction could mean loss of your driving rights, heavy fines as well as incarceration.
Law enforcement officers are trained to look out for, among other traffic offenders, individuals who break Virginia’s drunk driving laws. But, like everyone else, the police too make mistakes. And some of these mistakes can be quite costly as far as your DUI charge is concerned.
Here are police mistakes that you can cite to your advantage during your DUI defense.
Stopping you without a probable cause
Before law enforcement pulls you over on suspicion of driving under the influence, they must have a legitimate reason to do so. The police cannot just stop you because they suspect you might be operating a motor vehicle under the influence. Some of the legitimate reasons why the police may pull you over on DUI suspicion include driving above the designated speed limit, driving through stop signs, reckless driving or failing to stay within your line while driving.
Improper test administration
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), all law enforcement officers are expected to understand how to properly administer and evaluate field sobriety tests. Failure to properly administer the field sobriety test may invalidate the outcome and call the evidence against you into question. Additionally, the police administering the test must be properly trained and certified, and must strictly follow the laid down procedure breath, blood or urine test administration.
If you are arrested on suspicion of driving under influence, one of the questions you need to ask is, “How are you going to defend yourself and have your charges reduced or dropped altogether?” Some defense strategies you can exploit are police mistakes before, during and after your arrest.