What To Do If You Are Stopped By The Police and You Have Consumed Alcohol

As soon as you are aware that a law enforcement officer is near you, if you have consumed any alcohol, put gum, a mint, candy, or food in your mouth. There was a case where a driver was stopped for speeding and the officer told the driver that he detected the odor of alcohol on the driver’s breath when, in fact, the driver had not consumed any alcohol. Law enforcement officers are trained to first look for and detect this when making initial contact with you. Then they are trained to document in their report that they detected the “strong odor of an alcoholic beverage.” This then provides them with a basis to continue to investigate you to determine that you were Driving While Under the Influence of Alcohol (DUI) and/or Driving While Impaired By Alcohol (DWI).

If you are stopped by law enforcement, your only legal obligation is to provide a valid Driver’s License, vehicle registration, and if requested, automobile insurance information. You should cooperate with the officer and answer basic questions regarding your Driver’s License, vehicle registration, automobile insurance information, and your basic identification information, such as your name and address. This is all that you are required to do. You do not have to answer any other questions. This means that, if asked, you do not have to answer any questions such as whether you have consumed any alcoholic beverages, how many drinks you have consumed, whether you are under the influence of alcohol or drugs, where you were driving from prior to being stopped, what you were doing, where you are going, or any other incriminating questions.

If the officer asks you incriminating questions, you should simply and politely tell the law enforcement officer that “on the advice of counsel you are not answering those questions.” It is important that you are polite and courteous with the officer because being belligerent, combative, offensive, and difficult will only serve to motivate the officer to make your situation worse and they have the ability to do so in numerous ways. Furthermore, in court, judges respond better to drivers who were polite and courteous with the officer and will consider this in making their decision.

After you have provided the officer the documents requested, the officer may ask you to perform some tests, such as a Preliminary Breath Test (PBT), Standardized Field Sobriety Tests (SFSTs), and or a Breathalyzer Test. Law enforcement officers do not tell you that you do not have to do these tests. All of these tests provide law enforcement with the evidence that they need to arrest you and the results of these tests will be provided to the State’s Attorney’s Office for the Prosecutor to use to convict you.

Furthermore, in addition to the fact that you are not required to perform these tests, the Preliminary Breath Test (PBT) is not admissible in court because it is not accurate and is unreliable. The Standardized Field Sobriety Tests (SFSTs) are virtually impossible to perform well, even under ideal circumstances. If you do, however, decide to perform the Standardized Field Sobriety Tests (SFSTs), then you should inform the officer, and ensure that he or she writes in the report, any medical conditions that you have, or injuries you have had, which affect your ability to perform these tests. It is important that you communicate any and all relevant medical issues and injuries because of the difficulty in successfully performing these tests and having documentation of a medical condition or injury may assist in your defense to not being able to perform the tests satisfactorily. As for the Breathalyzer Test, under Maryland’s Implied Consent laws, when you received your Driver’s License, you signed a statement of consent that you agree to take a chemical test whenever there is any violation of any law that involves driving while intoxicated or impaired by the consumption of alcohol. Notwithstanding that contract, you are not compelled to submit to a chemical analysis and you have the right to refuse to take the test.

A refusal to submit to the Breathalyzer Test will not result in any criminal consequences, but it will result in a civil sanction imposed by the Motor Vehicle Administration (MVA). For a first offense, it is a suspension of your driver’s license for 120 days and for a second or subsequent offense, it is a suspension of your driver’s license for one (1) year.

You also have a legal right to receive the advice of an attorney prior to deciding whether to submit to a Breathalyzer Test or not and you are entitled to consult with an attorney, which includes the right to a face-to-face consultation with the attorney, and not just telephonic contact. However, the driver may not postpone the Breathalyzer Test until the consultation with the attorney, if the postponement exceeds the two (2) hour limit to take the test imposed by the implied consent statute. Once you request an attorney all interrogation and testing must stop.

Call me at 410-446-6644 or complete the Free Attorney Consultation box on this page to discuss your case at no charge and to fully protect your interests.