Investigating the Truth or Investing in an Arrest?

When the police officer showed up, naturally, he began to ask questions. After all, he had a job to do, find out the truth of what happened, find out if there was fault or even a crime committed, and hold the responsible party accountable for the property damage. Now our Forsyth County guy, being a fairly honest guy, told the officer the accident was his fault. He even admitted he had a drink with dinner. The policeman did not want to believe this was a simple accident and was determined to find a reason, a cause, other than our local fellow just made a mistake. The officer became suspicious that our man may have had more than one drink and decided to perform the 3 field sobriety tests. Because these are subject to the administrator’s judgment, our man didn’t pass. The officer decided to further inconvenience this man and give him a roadside breath test. Obviously, as our fellow had already admitted to having a drink, this test was positive for the presence of alcohol. This was enough for our guy to get a trip downtown in the back of a police car. His bad day had just gotten a lot worse.

Did Our Fellow Blow It?

Our local Forsyth County guy knew the law. He knew that he could have refused to blow into the breathalyzer when he arrived at the testing facility. However, he also knew that he wasn’t impaired. Additionally, he knew that if he refused, he would lose his license for a minimum of 30 days. Our guy drives for a living so he took the official breathalyzer test. As expected, he blew a .05, below the legal limit of .08. He assumed he would be released at this point with no charges. He had proven himself a responsible citizen after all, right? Boy was he wrong. He was still charged with DWI as well as Failure to Reduce Speed as a result of the accident.

The Case was Just One Man’s Opinion, was it Enough?

The officer was relying on a legal concept known as “appreciable impairment.” He thought there was a good case for DWI because he listed all the usual things for probable cause to require an official breathalyzer test: the odor of alcohol, glassy eyes, slurred speech, unsteadiness of feet, admission to drinking, a positive result on a roadside breath test, and poor performance on the field sobriety tests. Remember though, most of these are subjective to the officer’s judgment. So, our man retained Criminal Defense Attorney Tyler Chriscoe to stand for his rights, tell his side of the story, and make sure he wasn’t convicted on one person’s opinion.

Case Dismissed: Our Man Exonerated

Attorney Chriscoe went to work immediately. He examined the facts. The officer may have had probable cause to believe our driver was impaired. But the evidence, the numbers, simply didn’t support a DWI charge. Our man was not, in reality, impaired. Attorney Chriscoe had a frank discussion with the prosecuting attorney on the case. The DA agreed with Attorney Chriscoe and asked the judge for a dismissal in open court. However, there was one matter still pending. They decided to proceed with charging our Forsyth County guy with the Failure to Reduce Speed. Well, Criminal Defense Attorney Tyler Chriscoe had anticipated this move. He had asked for and obtained written assurance from our man’s insurance. That charge was dismissed as well. Even though our client started out having a terrible day, he ended up completely vindicated.

Contact Us

Now every case is unique with different facts and no outcome is guaranteed. However, we here at Dummit Fradin will always examine the facts of your case, stand by your side in court, and provide you with a zealous defense. When you’re facing charges, whether DWI, a simple traffic violation, or something more serious contact us right away. Let us get started defending your rights today.