Imagine you are driving down the road when all of a sudden there are sirens blaring and lights flashing behind you. You turn around and notice that a police officer is beckoning you to pull over on the side of the road. You gaze at your speedometer; you were going the speed limit. You think about your driving; you didn’t swerve or drive aggressively. You are certain that you did not violate a traffic signal, and you know that your registration is up to date and your headlights and taillights are working. Once you pull over, the police approach your car and to your disappointment they detect that you have been drinking. Within a few minutes, you are in a police rover on your way to jail, but you still don’t know why you were pulled over in the first place.

If you are in this situation, then did you know that the police have no right to take your case to court? In most states, officers must have a probable cause to pull you over for a DUI. If they cannot explain why they chose to stop you, then you can go free, even if you are guilty of a DUI. In some cases, the “probable cause” can be a suspicion that you were driving while intoxicated. Yet you must have displayed some questionable behavior such as swerving, speeding, or failing to obey traffic laws in order to get the police’s attention. If you were pulled over for no reason, then you can use this for your favor in a DUI court. If you believe that your arrest wasn’t legal, then you can ask the judge to suppress the evidence in your case. Once it is confirmed that the police were not legal in the way that they handled your case, the evidence will be thrown out, and you can go free.

Probable cause is protected under the United States Constitution where it prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures in the Fourth Amendment. The probable cause rule was finalized in Terry v. Ohio, where the United States Supreme Court ruled that an officer needs to provide “specific and articulable facts” that a crime was taking place before issuing a traffic stop. The officer does not have to know that the driver was driving under the influence in order to pull that driver over. For example, if a driver runs a red light, he or she can be pulled over. If it is discovered that the driver is also intoxicated, then that offender can be charged for both crimes. A police officer can also pull a driver for a non-behaviour related issue, such as a broken taillight.

One exception to the probable cause clause is sobriety checkpoints. In some states, these checkpoints can be conducted and if you are pulled over, you can be arrested for breaking the law. The checkpoints must abide by a specific pattern. For example, police must determine that they will pull over every fourth car that drives through. They are not allowed to digress from this plan because it could cause racial profiling or another type of illegal targeting based on one’s appearance. If you were pulled over in the state of California and have an open container of alcohol in the car, then you can be charged with an open beverage violation and taken to jail. Yet if the police cannot prove that they saw the bottle or cup from the outside, or cannot prove that they would have known the bottle was an alcoholic beverage, then this claim can be voided. If you are facing DUI charges, find a lawyer in your area who can help you by challenging the nature of your arrest!