Sleepy, but Sober – Driver Arrested for DWI
A second test confirmed what the driver had been saying since his arrest: He wasn’t drunk or on drugs when police charged him with driving while intoxicated, he was just tired.
Despite recording 0.00 on the Breathalyzer test, the Georgia driver was:
Arrested,
Taken to jail
Forced to post bail
Spent substantial time proving his innocence
Why? Because the arresting officer said he performed poorly on field sobriety exams. The driver told the officer he had been working all night, and performed poorly because he was tired.
“The tape shows a lengthy field sobriety test in which the driver’s most common miscue was not following the directions given by the arresting officer. On a number of occasions, he started performing the sobriety tests before the officer gave the go-ahead or didn’t follow instructions. On the heel-to-toe walk and turn, he began walking twice before being told to do so. On another test, he was told to close his eyes and count silently to 30 seconds, announcing when he thought the 30 seconds had expired. The driver did so in 28 seconds, stating that he did so by counting “one-one thousand; two-one thousand…””
There are many reasons you might fail the field sobriety test that have nothing to do with being drunk, including fatigue:
Occupational & Environmental Medicine, an international peer-reviewed journal in all aspects of occupational & environmental medicine published a paper written by Dr. A.M. Williamson in which the author reports “commonly experienced levels of sleep deprivation depressed performance to a level equivalent to that produced by alcohol intoxication of at least a BAC of 0.05%.”
With offices in Lubbock, Midland/Odessa, Abilene, Corpus Christi, McAllen and Amarillo, the attorneys at Texas Criminal Defense Group are experienced in spotting and challenging the critical issues in your case.
Stephen Hamilton is trained under the National Highway Safety Administration (NHTSA) guidelines to administer the Standardized Field Sobriety Tests (SFST) and has completed training as an instructor of the SFSTs.
Stephen is one of less than 1% of practicing attorneys in Lubbock County who are Board Certified in Criminal Law. An attorney who is Board Certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization in Criminal Law must have experience in the preparation and trial of serious criminal matters. The attorney must also have extensive knowledge of state and federal constitutional law, evidence, procedure and penal laws involved in the trial of these matters. Stephen has trained other lawyers in Texas and throughout the United States on how to be a better DUI attorney, and has authored “the book” on DWI Defense.
Don’t take chances, when your future is on the line, you simply cannot afford to work with an inexperienced defense team. If you are facing charges in Midland, please contact a Midland DWI lawyer as soon as possible to discuss your case.