Early morning July 23, 2017 an officer with the Washington State Patrol observed a vehicle failing to maintain its lane. The events of the traffic stop are captured by this impressively-low-quality video, so instead of giving the story away, this is a reasonable time to talk about the cues of impairment police officers look for in drivers.
According to the NHTSA, the probability of detecting DWI by random traffic enforcement stops at night has been found to be about 3 percent, but research has identified certain cues of impairment that work with impressive accuracy.
The NTSHA began its research into impairment cues by interviewing police officers from across the country. From those interviews they developed a list of more than 100 driving cues that were believed to be associated with blood alcohol concentrations (“BAC”) of 0.08 percent or greater. The list was reduced to 24 cues during three subsequent field studies involving hundreds of officers and more than 12,000 enforcement stops.
The driving behaviors identified fit into four categories: problems in maintaining proper lane position, speed and braking problems, vigilance problems, and judgment problems. The cues predict that a driver is DWI at least 35 percent of the time, and some cues, such as swerving, accelerating for no reason, and driving on other than the designated roadway, have single-cue probabilities greater than 70 percent. Generally, the probability of DWI increases substantially when a driver exhibits more than one of the cues.
In many jurisdictions, departmental policy dictates all drivers stopped on suspicion of DWI be instructed to exit their vehicle. It’s important to note that by instructing the driver to exit their vehicle, the officer is not committing to an arrest. Rather, the instruction is another step in the DWI detection process, as the officer observes the manner in which the driver exits and notes any additional signs of impairment.
There are many subtle cues the officer is looking for even prior to that point. For example, you will typically hear officers ask a driver for their license and registration. When the driver responds, officers are looking to see if the driver forgets one of the documents, produces the wrong document(s), fails to notice their license or registration, fumbles while handling either, or demonstrates an inability to retrieve the documents using their fingertips.
Officers will frequently interrupt the driver’s search for their license and registration with one or more simple questions, such as “Where are you coming from?” or “What day is it?” Possible evidence of impairment may be disclosed by the actions of the driver who ignores the question and concentrates only on the license or registration search, forgets to resume their search after answering the question, or supplies a grossly incorrect answer to the question. Impaired drivers will also often answer the wrong – expected — question, for example providing their first name when asked for their middle name.
Next time around: field sobriety testing.
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We all know if u fail to submit to a voluntary pbt ur going to jail. But guess we'll never get to know if his bac was rising or not the first test was a fail. Ur supposed to blow hard
“Okay, um, alright, so, okay, uhhhh put your hands behind your backâ€
Dam that's fucked upp he shouldn't have arrested coulda let em go just not drive
Shouldn't have taken the second test.
The officers would have probably let him go, coz there's insufficient evidence for arrest.
What people don't realize is that the cop has so much discretion in making an arrest, he could blow a .02 roadside and the cop say he seemed impaired and he smelled it so the real test that's admissible in court is at the police station and even there a blow under .08 doesn't automatically mean you are home free…it can get you a lot of good will with the prosecutor and the court thought so you have a way easier time beating the charges.
This is a very winnable case in court and I'd be surprised if this guys was convicted.
There is good evidence he wasn't very impaired on his initial ride and he was ONLY back in the car and over the presumptive limit because the officer told him to get back in the car…which is entrapment.
They should make the limit 0.05% and then actually let people drive away if below it. They almost always arrest people over 0.05% anyway.
cop is so awkward the whole time. real life eqivalent of this emoji
😕
👉👈
I kinda feel sorry for this guy.. and I NEVER EVER feel sorry for the drunk drivers. They all get what they deserve in the end.. But this guy was different. And he passed all the tests.. and was polite, cooperative, and did everything the officer asked. I think the officer got it wrong this time.
It's always "JUST A COUPLE OF BEERS" !!!!! 😆😆😆😆
Did the officer really just do the "thumb print in case things go south" touch while wearing a glove??? XD
His main mistake. Blowing twice. After passing the first time he should have told him No. I did youre test and passed. So why are we still here?
Wow they did a great job filming this with the radio
He looked able to drive with all the test! Maybe your machine is screwed up
Whaaà aat the fuc!! He was a 0.06 when he was stopped, so if it did go up he wasn't driving..
He should have said no to the second blow – what could dude get him for – failure to submit? He already submitted.
I don't think you are required to take two tests he should have refused the second one and called his lawyer, let the cop arrest him if he wants to
Thats kinda bs. He was under and wasnt driving when he was ovr lawyer couls beat that
I would have asked the cop before I took the test when was that BAC machine last calibrated it’s supposed to be done every end of a shift. If he couldn’t provide me a paper stating the date and time it was done. I wouldn’t have taken it and just asked for a lawyer.
He shouldn't have sped that obviously? 28 over? I would be pissed if it was a lie pull over. I don't think he was impaired enough to not drive properly. But 28 over? That's on him. Dangerous by itself. And why risk the cop stop. Sorry but he's stupid.
cop really has no experience
This is literally a mile and a half away from where I live lol
CLEAN FORD CROWN VICTORIA POLICE INTERCEPTOR. THE OFFICER WAS A NICE GUY. SOME POLICE OFFICERS HAVE PISSY OUT LOOK WHEN THEY SEE A CIVILIAN DRIVING RETIRED POLICE CARS.
Unfair.
atleat let him find a ride home. i love cops but this dude was looking for an arrest
Interested in my Criminal Justice degree.. unfortunately for this officer, even a public defender who landed this as his first case could rip this apart and destroy that officers credibility for several months until he was re-trained to detect impairment.
Guy passed his field sobriety tests with too high a margin, yes he gave clues to possible impairment, not enough. Second, even if he went up between BAC tests.. he was good on the first one.. officer never saw him drive between the first and second one. Even if his last drink was 4 minutes before contact with the officer he was not legally impaired at the time of stop.
The guy probably should not have been driving, depending on how drunk he was 20 minutes later could be an issue. But he was under the legal limit at the time of the stop. The officer was on the right track, thinking he could be going up.. but didn’t use good judgement on this stop. “ hey i noticed you’re going up, i suspect your last drink was a few minutes ago.. call an Uber home, you’re not driving..â€
The cops stopped him because he has a Crown Victoria
So he was below legal limit while he was driving, but his BAC went up during the stop, so he wasn't driving over the limit. How did he get a DUI?
He’ll beat it in court!
Man, this guy should have been let go with just a speeding ticket. Not sure what the cop's issue was. Kid was cooperative and polite, and appeared far from being a danger on the road (well, other than the speeding).
What's next the cop asks you to take a shot of 151 and immediately blow.
ATTENTION ! ! ! everyone read the comment from Terry Gholson, he's absolutely right.
This is a BS arrest. He was not at the limit per his pbt at the point of driving….he was not driving when the second test was administered…he will get off for sure.
Re: Those 9 steps. Police practice the first 3 steps mulitple times, just by demonstration. People like me, who don't drink, but are a wee bit chubby, can't do it. I sway. This is a very difficult test for a sober person. Try It. It might work well for a person with developed calves and a lower center of gravity, but for people with thinner calves and balance from upper body, it is hard.
This case is thrown out on so many levels!!
WRONG!
Remember kids, if you pass the first breathalyzer, don't take a second one. If you fail though, ask for another. I had to take one when I was 16 and failed it even though I didn't drink back then. Luckily the cop let me redo it and I passed with 0.00…
You gotta be from Washington state
Rotten Cop Alert!!!
See? It doesn't matter how well you perform the FST, all it takes is a cop saying he saw signs of impairment. He didn't show him the failed breathalyzer, and didn't tell him the reading, he just said he was now suddenly over the limit. Anyone who doesn't know that cops are financially motivated for making DUI arrests needs to wake up. You never know whether or not you'll be the next victim of this abuse of power. And the sad thing is in all likelihood, there will never be any consequences for this. People don't want to believe that there are some real dirt bags parading around in cop costumes. Even when they see it with their own eyes.
That cop needs fired.point blank.
Take the test once, passed. Free to go.
Jeremy DeWitt has one of those cars.
The guy didn't blow over the limit until AFTER he was stopped and already passed FSTs. He can't be charged with DUI because he wasn't over the limit the first go. Damn. I usually side with the officer, but not so confident in the call made here.
Fuck up the kids life cause he didn't get the result he wanted the first time. Great work officer, typical.
Easily beatable in court. He was already off the hook. The cop, wasn’t going to leave until he could pay for the stop.
Surprised by the comments on this one. Way to many people are failing to understand how the BAL scale works, not to mention completely disregarding the fact that he had some level of alcohol and still decided to drive. That alone isn't something a reasonable, intelligent or responsible person chooses to do. I sincerely hope this guy never gets to drive again, and that DUI follows him for the rest of his life. Just TAKE A FUCKING CAB if you plan on going to a bar.