Just because you are stopped at a sobriety checkpoint does not mean you are required to blow.
If you are driving while under the influence and get stopped at a sobriety checkpoint, you do not have to blow into the breathalyzer, walk a straight line, or perform any of the other tests law enforcement suggests you do. You hold your tongue and call an experienced Polk County criminal defense attorney. Do not volunteer anything while at the checkpoint, as everything you say and do is documented and may come back to bite you later.
While you may not think your behavior after drinking or doing drugs is erratic, others, including cops, may think and suspect otherwise. What are they looking for at a sobriety checkpoint? Often law enforcement watches first and foremost for erratic driving, or unusual behavior behind the wheel, like turning lights off and on, or jack-rabbiting a car down a road. While these odd actions may be the result of wearing the wrong glasses or an equipment failure, they are enough to get you stopped.
Police are trained to look for a variety of things at a sobriety checkpoint, things both subtle and glaringly obvious. They may include, but are not limited to: bloodshot eyes; drooping eyelids; slurred speech and odd speech patterns; talking too loudly or too slowly; a rumpled appearance; a slow response to questions asked by police, or no response at all when questioned; an uneven, wobbly gait; exaggerated movement; difficulty maintaining balance; stumbling and fumbling when asked to produce vehicle registration or identification; and the most obvious, the smell of alcohol or other odors, that suggest the driver is under the influence of something.
The one thing you need to remember, if you are ever stopped at a sobriety checkpoint, and are about to be charged with DUI/DWI, is that you need a criminal defense lawyer. Do not speak to anyone other than your lawyer. It is their job to figure out if the procedures used at the checkpoint were legally and properly executed. They will look at which defenses may be used on your behalf, should your case go to court.
There is the possibility that your case may be dismissed before it gets that far, but that depends on the circumstances of your arrest. If you speak out of turn and offer your own defense, you are asking for trouble. Leave the defense up to the criminal defense lawyer. Let them determine whether or not your arrest was legal and if not, how they might go about having the charges thrown out.
Should it be determined that the arrest was legal, your criminal defense attorney will be the one to deal with getting your charges reduced or mitigated, if possible. Your first call to an experienced Polk County criminal defense attorney is the smartest move you will ever make.
To learn more about Polk County criminal defense lawyer or Polk County DUI lawyer Thomas Grajek, go to http://www.flcrimedefense.com/ or call 863-688-4606.
