What Should I Do if I am Stopped for Drunk Driving in Ohio?

You should be polite and respectful at all times to any law enforcement officer. Hostility will be used as evidence of intoxication. If later on there are close issues in the case, the prosecutor will ask the officer what he thinks about giving you a deal. If the officer remembers you as a “good kid” you will get the deal. If you were loudly talking about pork, pigs, Nazis with badges and wanting badge numbers, the cop is going to tell the prosecutor not to give you a good deal.

Do not answer questions about how much you have had to drink and when. Do not admit to driving the car. Simply state that it is late and you wish to be on your way and that you don’t want to answer questions. The less you say the better.

Do not participate in field sobriety testing by the side of the road. Do not: follow a pen with your eyes, stand on one leg, walk any line, count backwards, say your ABCs or touch your finger to your nose with your eyes closed. These are all techniques that the police use to build evidence against you to establish probable cause to arrest you and to establish your guilt at trial. If you do these things in the hope that the officer will let you go if you “pass the tests” you are only hurting your attorney’s chances to help you down the road.

Remember that you are likely being video and audio taped during the stop and after it.

Don’t panic. Even if they arrest you, in most cases, they are only doing it to take you back to the station to blow into the machine. Once that is done, most suspects are handed a ticket with a court date and let go an hour or two later if they are sober enough to fend for themselves, or released to a friend or relative if they aren’t. In most cases, you will still get to sleep in your bed that night. Your chances of spending the night in jail are very slim, but they rise precipitously if you are rude to the officer.

Understand that is a foregone conclusion that you are going to be arrested and charged if you are stopped and you smell like alcohol. There is no penalty for the officer if it turns out you were not drunk. But if the officer lets you go and you were drunk and you drive into someone walking the dog, that officer’s law enforcement career is over. So whether you are arrested or not is not the battle. The battle begins when your attorney takes over. Until then, keep your mouth shut and be polite.

Don’t talk to anyone about what happened except your attorney.

Print out this page and put it in your car.

Call Eric Willison at 614-580-4316 for your best DUI OVI defense – all hours