WHAT TO DO IF YOU GET PULLED OVER FOR DUI
We are Americans living in a free society. DO NOT believe the hype that "buzzed driving is drunk driving" or that if you've had anything to drink you cannot drive. DUI laws are getting more strict and oppressive because DUI cases result in big money and return on investment for budget-constrained county governments. Do not allow this to infringe upon your right to drink responsibly and drive to and from your house or another location.
Thus, in wishing everyone a safe and happy new year, we also offer this quick-reference guide for what to do if you get pulled over under suspicion of driving under the influence.
THE NUMBER ONE RULE: DO NOT TALK TO THE POLICE. The police are NOT there to help you and they are NOT going to let you go if you seem reasonable. You are obligated to show them identification and your vehicle's registration and that is ALL. Honesty is NOT the best policy; SILENCE is the best policy. NEVER tell the police that you have consumed alcoholic beverages, NEVER tell them that you understand why you were pulled over, NEVER answer any of their questions at all. NO ONE, EXCEPT ANOTHER COP, HAS EVER TALKED THEIR WAY OUT OF A DUI. This is because the police are incentivized to make a DUI arrest and get a DUI conviction. EVERYTHING you say can and will be twisted, misquoted and then used against you in court. Beyond that, if you are talking, the cop will copy/paste the following line into his police report: "Mr/Ms ____'s speech was audibly slurred and when s/he spoke I detected a strong odor which, based on my training and experience, I determined to be an alcoholic beverage."
If you feel uncomfortable just being silent with the police, you may say the following, or, better yet, hand them the following written statement: "Officer, I am not driving under the influence, but I know my rights and I have been advised to not make any statements or take any tests unless I am arrested."
. . . which leads us to the next important area:
UNLESS YOU ARE ARRESTED, YOU DO NOT HAVE TO TAKE ANY TESTS AT ALL. This means neither a breath test or a filed sobriety test (aka "stupid human tricks").
Moreover, a police officer needs probable cause to arrest you. Your statements, your breath sample, and your filed sobriety tests are all ways for the officer to formulate probable cause. If you give them NONE of these, then it is much more likely that you will not be arrested at all. If you are arrested anyway, then it is much more likely that your attorney will be able to get your case dismissed based on a lack of probable cause.
The only exceptions to this are if you are currently on active DUI probation, in which case you are not permitted to refuse any tests or if you are under 21, in which case you must give a breath sample on a preliminary alcohol screening device. For everyone else, DO NOT TAKE ANY TESTS PRE-ARREST.
IF YOU ARE ARRESTED, all of the above rules apply except for one: under CA's "implied consent" law, you are obligated to provide a breath or blood sample if you are arrested for DUI. Failure to provide this will result in the revocation of your driving privilege for one year. Thus, in most situations, it is better to go ahead and give them the sample than to refuse. (There are extreme exceptions to this rule, such as if you have just been in a serious DUI-related accident wherein someone has been injured or killed, or already have multiple DUI convictions in the last 10 years, but in that case you should have already been advised by an attorney on what to do given various scenarios).
After you are released from custody, your best move is to then contact an experienced California DUI attorney, who, if you have followed the rules above, will give you a great chance at beating your DUI case. Do not forget about the 10 DAY RULE, which is that you have 10 days to contact DMV (or retain an attorney who will contact DMV for you) to fight the mandatory license suspension that accompanies a DUI arrest.
