The Defendant was stopped in a left hand turn lane way behind the stop bar. An officer was behind him with her camera activated on her way to another call. The Defendant did not move when the light turned green. The officer hit her spotlight, activated her emergency lights and sirens and eventually had to get out of her car and approach the Defendant’s vehicle. The Defendant slumped forward in his vehicle and completely passed out. The doors were locked and the officer was banging on the window of the car for two minutes with her mag light and knocking as well. She was attempting to wake up the Defendant. When he finally came to, he was bobbling his head around and looked at the Officer. He made a sad pouty face and started moving forward like he was going to drive away. The Officer (on video), ran back to her car and the Defendant pulled up to the green arrow and stopped. Once the light turned red, the Defendant ran the red light. The Officer had her emergency lights activated as she followed the Defendant. He failed to stop at 3 places where he could have pulled over and finally pulled over. He was ordered to step out of the car and stumbled for a second or two. He had a strong odor of alcohol coming from his breath, his speech was slurred and his eyes were glassy and bloodshot. According to the stopping officer, he tried to get away at one point and said or did something that made her feel that he needed to be held in the back of her patrol car until the DUI unit arrived. When the DUI unit arrived, the Defendant was asked to submit to roadsides which he refused. He was arrested and taken to the Breath Facility where he refused to submit to a sample of his breath after being advised his license would be suspended for one year. The case went to trial in front of a jury. The Firm pointed out all of the inconsistent statements made by the stopping officer in her sworn deposition and her in court testimony. Additionally, the arresting officer made multiple statements on cross-examination which conflicted with the stopping officer’s testimony. The Defendant testified that he had played 36 holes of golf that day for business purposes and that he had drunk a minimal amount. He further testified that he was physically exhausted from the day and that he had fallen asleep behind the wheel from the day and not from alcohol impairment. The jury found the Defendant not guilty of Driving Under the Influence.
DUI & Criminal Division
