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What symptoms and behavior is the officer looking for during the initial detention at the scene of a DUI or DWI?

Whitney S. Boan Protecting Your Right

Video Transcript

What people often don’t realize is that when an officer has decided that they believe that there is a reason to be investigating someone for a DUI, that doesn’t always necessarily correlate with the actual fact that someone may actually be under the influence of alcohol and driving a motor vehicle. What the officer is usually going to look for, and what you’ll usually see as kind of buzz words in police reports where they have investigated someone for a DUI, is that the person smells like alcohol or the odor of the impurities of alcohol are emitting from their breath; what their eyes look like in terms of if they’re bloodshot, glassy, watery; how they speak in terms of if their speech appears to be slurred in the officer’s opinion or not, as well as how the person interacts with the officer; if they’re slow or sluggish in their movements, how they walk, how they exit a car; things they may say; whether or not they admit they’ve had anything to drink. Things of that nature.

You should speak with a lawyer to figure out whether or not anything that you were asked relative to a DUI investigation is even given any weight as evidence in court, whether it would be admissible, or whether or not you could even be convicted of the offense of DUI, even if you think that you could be in your own opinion.