Criminal Defense Attorney Patrick Apple continues his three-part series discussing how to challenge common evidence found in DWI cases by touching on the field sobriety tests. There are only three tests that are recognized by the NHTSA and admissible in court. These are the HGN or the Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus test, the walk and turn test, and the one-leg stand test. The HGN test looks for the involuntary jerking of your eye when an officer puts a stimulus in front of your eyes and moves it back and forth. This should typically be a finger, often in a DWI case, the officer has used a very bright flashlight instead. The walk and turn test and the one-leg stand test are often performed on the side of the road with traffic roaring past. Officers also make up other tests like the counting test and the ABC test, but these are not admissible or recognized as authentic tests. The Officer must say that the person being charged with a DWI performed poorly on the three field sobriety tests, otherwise it will be considered a poor arrest. Their testimony will be used in court, therefore to challenge their account, you should review their body and dash-camera footage to see if the tests were performed to NHTSA standards and under what conditions. If you’ve been charged with a DWI where field sobriety tests were used, call Dummit Fradin today! Let us help!