There are several circumstances under which the police may pull a Rochester driver over and investigate whether he or she has been drinking and driving.
Law enforcement, however, does not have the unfettered right to simply stop vehicles to see if the operator has consumed alcohol and charge them with driving while intoxicated.
Instead, the law requires that an officer stopping a car to have a specific and articulable reason for making the stop.
In most cases, this will mean that the officer must have observed something about the way the vehicle was being driven – such as speeding, weaving, or passing a stop sign – that would provide a legal reason to stop the vehicle.
An equipment violation, such as a broken taillight, may also provide a legal reason for stopping someone. If the vehicle is stopped for a valid reason, the police are allowed to approach the driver and ask questions.
It is usually during this questioning that the officer will look for further indications of intoxication, such as an odor of alcohol or slurred speech, that would support the officer conducting further investigation into whether the driver is intoxicated.
An officer also may stop a vehicle if he or she has reason to believe criminal activity is afoot.
As an example, the police may be able to legally stop a vehicle if someone called them and reported that an intoxicated person had gotten into the car and was driving, so long as the description of the vehicle was sufficient to avoid the possibility of law enforcement randomly stopping cars in a search for the reported driver.
If the police do not have a proper basis for stopping a car, it is considered an illegal seizure, which may result in all evidence gathered against the defendant following the stop being excluded from use at trial.
Without this evidence, the charges would have to be dismissed.
We are experienced DWI lawyers who believe in examining every aspect of a case when preparing a defense.
If you need our help, call us at 585-484-7432.