Location: Wyoming
Looking to help a friend with her DUI case so insight would be appreciated. (She does have a lawyer but maybe another set of eyes could help here.)
My friend was pulled over for DUI. The initial stop was valid. (Didn’t use a blinker.) She told the officer she’d had 2 drinks and was the DD. Friend in the vehicle was heavily intoxicated (which could explain the smell of alcohol.) She declined a breathalyzer. Field sobriety test was fine. She barely slurred a few words but was otherwise doing fine walking the straight line and everything. She didn’t do much aside from a nystagmus test which was conducted improperly because a security light from a nearby building was flashing in her eyes.
The officer was basically a hostile jerk from the beginning. She has anxiety (diagnosed and medicated) and was telling the officer he was overwhelmed and anxious so he just grabbed her and put her in handcuffs. The officers then asked for permission to move her vehicle, which she agreed to.
At the jail, he got a warrant to obtain her BAC and waved it in her face. Her blood was drawn and the officer took the blood and over inverted it (over thirty inversions). He turned his body camera off but footage from another officer’s body camera was submitted showing this.
She called her boyfriend to come get her but couldn’t reach him. When he finally got her message he called to ask if he could come get her. The officer (not sure yet on if it’s the same officer) implied that he may not be able to get her and that she’d need to stay to see a judge (not true) and said he’d call him back. He did not. A female officer then came in and told her she was not going to be bailed out, causing her great distress.
The following day, she was not given any paperwork aside from her bond stipulations. They didn’t even know where her car was. When she found her vehicle, the tire had a large half-moon shaped piece of metal sticking out of it. It was half in and half out of the tire, which might imply that the tire was not rolling when it was penetrated because the metal was not flush with the tread. She had to tow her car.
Her BAC was above the legal limit.
Could malicious intent of the officer be argued here? I’m wondering if the hostility combined with the faulty nystagmus test and turning off his camera would be enough to argue it. And do you think the vehicle damage could have been intentional? Her lawyer says that the over inversion of the tubes isn’t enough to get her case dropped.
Any insight here? Thanks
Comments
> Could malicious intent of the officer be argued here?
Argued to whom? She can tell her friends that story, but there’s not much else. You are also not getting the whole story.
> Her lawyer says that the over inversion of the tubes isn’t enough to get her case dropped.
That sounds right.
Was her license suspended for refusing to blow?
An officer being rude isnt against the law. She can file a complaint with the police department. But at the end of the day despite a field sobriety test (even if she passes) it’s to up to the officer to make the judgement call if the beleive someone is un fit to drive. And in this case it officer was proven right since she was above leagal limit and further above it when she was driving.