Raynine
Diamond Member
- Oct 28, 2023
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I believe it was some time in 1977 that roadside sobriety testing by police was first implemented in the US. The police are not qualified to determine if anyone is under the influence of alcohol by watching them do tricks. In 2001 I was stopped by a state trooper who followed me out of a local bar fishing for drunks. My brother was here visiting, and we went out to eat. We ran into some relatives who were going to a bar later; he decided to go. I told him to call me, and I would pick him up so he would not have to drive.
Around midnight he called and I went to get him. He had several Black Russians, so it is a good thing he did not drive. We headed back to my place and within a mile the blue lights came on. The trooper said I was speeding 34 miles per hour on a 30-mile-per-hour road. That was his reason for stopping me.
I rolled down the window and the first words out of his mouth were: “There’s a strong smell of alcohol coming from your car”. “How much have you had to drink tonight”? I told him nothing, but my brother had been drinking, and I was driving him home. The trooper told me he would give me a break by not charging me for speeding, but he needed to determine if I was drunk after he shined a flashlight in my eyes and said they were bloodshot. This sounded a lot like a rehearsed method he had used before.
He told me to stand on one leg with my head tilted back and while touching my nose which I did. He then said to lift my leg higher until I could no longer maintain balance, so I stumbled back. He handcuffed me and had my car towed. At the police barracks I blew into a Breathalyzer and registered 0.0. Flustered, he suggested that I was on drugs and wanted to take me to a hospital for a blood draw. I said the word “lawyer”, and he handed me back my license.
He drove me home, but my car was impounded so I had to pay to get it back. I don’t know any sober person who has ever passed a field sobriety test by doing tricks.
Why is this done?
Around midnight he called and I went to get him. He had several Black Russians, so it is a good thing he did not drive. We headed back to my place and within a mile the blue lights came on. The trooper said I was speeding 34 miles per hour on a 30-mile-per-hour road. That was his reason for stopping me.
I rolled down the window and the first words out of his mouth were: “There’s a strong smell of alcohol coming from your car”. “How much have you had to drink tonight”? I told him nothing, but my brother had been drinking, and I was driving him home. The trooper told me he would give me a break by not charging me for speeding, but he needed to determine if I was drunk after he shined a flashlight in my eyes and said they were bloodshot. This sounded a lot like a rehearsed method he had used before.
He told me to stand on one leg with my head tilted back and while touching my nose which I did. He then said to lift my leg higher until I could no longer maintain balance, so I stumbled back. He handcuffed me and had my car towed. At the police barracks I blew into a Breathalyzer and registered 0.0. Flustered, he suggested that I was on drugs and wanted to take me to a hospital for a blood draw. I said the word “lawyer”, and he handed me back my license.
He drove me home, but my car was impounded so I had to pay to get it back. I don’t know any sober person who has ever passed a field sobriety test by doing tricks.
Why is this done?
