Why did the police pull you over in your DUI?
There are a lot of different types of DUI arrests. The most common situation is where the officer notices some smaller violation of the law (usually a traffic violation, or violation of the California Vehicle Code).
They do not teach this in driving school, but the rules change after dark. Officers say that if you follow someone long enough, they will eventually violate some portion of the vehicle code. And the smallest violation of the law will be enough to pull you over.
Slightly rolling through a stop, or running a yellow light, or being one inch over the lane lines, are enough for you to be stopped.
Once the officer pulls you over, they are looking for an odor of alcohol, bloodshot and watery eyes, fumbling of your driver’s license, registration, or insurance, and any indication you are under the influence of a drug or alcohol.
Once they have that suspicion, they can ask you to do field sobriety tests. As we have mentioned before, field sobriety tests are voluntary. At this point, depending on the officer, and how well you’ve done, the officer has only one of three options available:
- Let you go with a warning;
- Let you go with a citation for any violations; or
- Arrest you for DUI.
There was a time, in the past, that many talk about, where the police would just drive you home and not arrest for DUI. However, pressure from Orange County prosecutors, and in turn, pressure from Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) leads police to have a “zero tolerance” policy for anyone suspected of DUI.
Why did the police pull you over in your DUI? The police still have to have probable cause to pull you over, and separate probable cause for a breath, or blood, test that is not consented to. Probable cause is defined by the US Supreme Court as “articulable suspicion that a specific crime has occurred, or is in the process of occurring”.
If you have questions about why the police stopped you for a DUI in Orange County, contact us today. We can help .as we have helped many others.