Facts: The officer was sitting in his car at a stop light waiting to turn when a small car driven by the defendant drove by so fast that the officer’s vehicle literally “rocked”. The officer drove after the suspect and pace clocked the vehicle going 70 in a 45 mph zone. The vehicle slowed down to 65 and then sped back up to 70 miles per hour. After activating his emergency lights, the vehicle did not slow down initially, changed lanes without signaling then braked heavily and stopped in a turn lane just before the entrance to the Walgreens driveway. After asking the driver to move her vehicle, she pulled into the access drive and stopped her car giving the officer no room to pull past her. The officer had to use his P.A. system again to inform her that she needed to pull up further. Upon contact with the driver, he smelled a noticeable odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from her facial area. The driver continued to apologize and kept stating that she just wanted to go to bed. The officer stated that she had bloodshot glassy eyes, slightly slurred speech, dilated pupils and her eyelids were fluttering. The driver admitted to having 2 glasses of wine and taking 2 pills without a prescription for them. The officer also claimed that the driver argumentative and sarcastic with him during the field sobriety exercises. According the officer, on the walk and turn exercise, the driver took 12 steps on the way down and 21 on the way back intead of the instructed 9. She also started early several times and after taking the 21 steps on the way back, she turned to the officer and asked if she should keep going? She would not count even though she was instructed several times to count out loud. The driver was eventually taken into custody for Driving Under the Influence and a breath test was requested to which the driver refused. RESULT: The state dismissed the DUI prior to trial.
DUI & Criminal Division
