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Drunk Driving Arrest Information
The following is what can happen when a law enforcement
officer has a reason to suspect a driver is intoxicated. Some possible reasons
are erratic driving, poor coordination, and/or the presence of the smell of
alcohol.
Field Sobriety Test
The officer will administer one or more field sobriety tests. Some common Field
Sobriety Tests include having the driver:
* try to walk in a straight line, heel-to-toe.
* tip his or her head Blood Alcohol Content with eyes closed and try to touch the tip of the nose
with the index finger.
* stand on one foot.
* reciting all or part of the alphabet.
Field Sobriety Tests are better at determining the level of impairment than they are at
estimating the driver's Blood Alcohol Content.
The (US) National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has scientifically
determined that three Field Sobriety Tests are statistically reliable in detecting impaired
drivers. These three "standardized" tests are the "Walk and Turn" test, the
"One-leg Stand" and "Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus" in which a law enforcement
officer observes the discrete movements of a person's eyes when tracking a
stimulus across their field of vision.
Chemical Test
If arrested, the driver is brought to the police station, and given one or more
chemical tests: breath, urine, and/or blood. Breath test results are usually
available immediately and are sometimes given before the actual arrest takes
place; urine and blood samples are sent to a lab to determine the Blood Alcohol
Content. In some
jurisdictions, refusing to take a breathalyzer test is an offense in itself,
often creating an automatic assumption of guilt under the law.
Chemical tests are better at determining the driver's Blood Alcohol Content than they are at
estimating the level of impairment, but their accuracy is disputed by some (see
blood alcohol test assumptions). In any case, tests can only determine the Blood
Alcohol Content
at the time the test is taken, which sometimes can be higher than when the
vehicle was actually operated, in the case of a driver who drank a large volume
immediately before driving.
The Next Step In A Drunk Driving Arrest
If it is determined that the person is not legally intoxicated, they might be
released without any charges. However, many jurisdictions have charges which
don't require a particular Blood Alcohol Content, and tests for some drugs (such as GHB) will not
show up in a test designed for alcohol.
Most of the time, the driver will either be kept in a holding cell (the "drunk
tank") until they are deemed sober enough to be released, or sent to jail to
wait for their first court hearing (or until they can get bailed out).
For more free legal information on Drunk Driving Arrest, please use the
links below:
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