Reader’s Question:

The people I talk to who have been arrested for DUI here in Montgomery, Alabama told me about these field sobriety tests being conducted on people suspected for DUI? Is there a scientific basis for these field sobriety tests, could you give some examples and can they be used to determine probable cause to arrest a person?

Fidel

Montgomery, AL

The field sobriety tests (FST’s) are generally used by police officers in Montgomery, Alabama DUI investigations to determine if the driver is under the influence of alcohol. Normally, FST’s consist of a battery of three to five exercises like walk-and turn, one-leg stand, “nystagmus,” finger-to-nose, alphabet recitation, “Rohmberg,” etc. The police officer could decide whether the driver “failed”, or he may decide after applying recent federal “standardized” scoring. But these tests have no real basis in science and are almost useless in a DUI case.

Any police officer or DUI attorney knows that the decision to arrest is made at the driver’s window and the FST’s given supposedly to determine probable cause to arrest is actually for the purpose of gathering evidence. The officer actually has already made up his mind in arresting the driver so he will “see” what he expects to see. The conditions wherein the FST’s are taken almost guarantee failure: possibly cold, along a gravelled or sloped roadside, usually late at night, with bright headlights from passing cars, the officer’s flashlight and patrol car’s strobe and headlights providing the lighting and the driver might be nervous, frightened and completely unfamiliar with the tests.

Tags: drunk driving laws, DUI, DUI arrest, DUI lawyer