If you were arrested for DUI, one of the terms you need to familiarize yourself with is "probable cause." Probable cause is shorthand for the Fourth Amendment right of every American to have their property and person immune to searches and seizures unless governing authorities have a clear reason for doing so. With regard to DUI, police officers only have the right to arrest you when they have probable cause to believe that you have committed a crime.
Without probable cause, police officers risk running afoul of your civil rights—not only ensuring that the charges must be dropped, but making the police department liable for a civil lawsuit. In other words, if your DUI arrest lacked probable cause, it's the police who might be in trouble—not you.
Below, we have a brief guide to understanding your rights during a DUI stop and how to ensure your rights are respected.
The Foundation of Probable Cause: Reasonable Suspicion
Reasonable suspicion is a law enforcement term that gets lumped in with probable cause, but they're both distinct, each with their own required burden of proof. Reasonable suspicion is what an officer is required to have in order to lawfully pull over a driver and conduct a "limited investigation." The burden of proof for reasonable suspicion is whether an officer has reason to believe a driver "might have" committed a crime.
Police officers have wide discretion regarding what constitutes "reasonable suspicion":
- Driving on center line
- Lane drifting
- Erratic driving
- Slow driving
- Illegal turns
- Stopping for no reason
- Near collisions
An officer need not only pull you over for any of these reasons—any sort of unusual or reckless driving is enough for officers to have reasonable suspicion. In addition, many states give officers the ability to use vehicle codes and reasonable suspicion as a pretense for a "limited investigation," even when what they suspect isn't part of why they pulled you over. For example, if an officer believes you're drunk or drugged, they can pull you over for a broken taillight in order to investigate further.
As part of the limited investigation, an officer may:
- Ask for your license and vehicle registration
- Ask you to leave the vehicle
- Ask you questions about when you last drank
- Ask why you were driving unsafely
- Ask you to complete a field sobriety test
- Ask you to submit to a breathalyzer test
If the results of your test indicate that you're intoxicated, then the police officer now has probable cause—or simply reason to believe that you "most likely" committed a crime. Armed with probable cause, they are free to arrest you. If you refuse a field sobriety test or breathalyzer test, this is itself a crime—which also gives the officer probable cause to arrest you.
Why These Distinctions & Steps Matter
Per your rights, police are required to abide by strict procedures and processes when making an arrest. This is what keeps officers from exercising prejudice or abusing their power on random motorists. Without reasonable suspicion or probable cause, police officers need to let you go free.
When police ignore these procedures, it renders the charges against you moot. If you've been charged with a crime, and there is incontrovertible proof that you committed the crime, but the arresting officer cannot meet the requirements of reasonable suspicion or probable cause, then the case against you must be dismissed. That's why police officers need to follow the rules—and why, as citizens, we need to hold them to the mark.
Though police officers have broad discretion when it comes to doing their job, there is a world of difference between "might have" and "most likely" committed a crime. A DUI attorney knows how to find the difference and help clients retain their freedom and get charges dropped.