Deputy was on patrol in his marked HCSO patrol vehicle when he was dispatched to a reckless driver call. The call stated that the red Dodge sedan, pulled into the driveway and the driver did not get out of the vehicle. The Deputy located the listed vehicle and parked his patrol vehicle in front of the mailbox so that he was not blocking it in. He did not activate any emergency equipment. He approached the vehicle on the driver side and noticed that the front windows were down, key was in the ignition, engine on and music blaring. He was able to wake up the driver, who was by himself in the listed vehicle. After he was able to have the Driver turn off the music, he asked him to turn off the engine, which he did. While talking with the Driver, he saw that ” his eyes were glossy and bloodshot. His manual dexterity was poor while attempting to find his drivers license. He handed me his wallet when I asked for his license and then he fumbled with it. I could smell the strong and distinct odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from his breath and person. He was slurring his words. I asked him if he was medically okay and he replied that he was. I asked him if he had been drinking tonight and he replied that he has not had any alcohol in two days, then later changed his story to a couple of hours ago then finally stated that he was drinking in his car while driving”. He thought that the Driver was impaired and called for a DUI Investigator to respond to the scene.
A DUI investigator arrived and performed field sobriety exercises. During the exercises, the Driver showed signs of impairment and was arrested for DUI. The Driver was transported to Central Breath Testing where he refused to provide his two lawful breath samples. The DUI investigator advised the Driver of the Implied Consent warning in CB – 01 room in CBT ( see video), which he stated that he understood and was still going to ” Refuse” to give his breath samples.
Result:
The administrative suspension for Refusing to Provide a breath sample was set aside by the Hearing Officer due to insufficient evidence to support the suspension because the stop was determined to be invalid.