How The Reason You Were Pulled Over May Help Your DUI Case
Police officers are hired by the city and state to monitor drivers, roads, and traffic laws, and one of the main things they do is pull people over when they see drivers break the law. If you were pulled over and charged with a DUI, there is a chance you might be able to get out of the charges simply by focusing on the reason the police officer pulled you over. Here are a few things to understand about this subject.
Police officers need a reason to pull you over
Even though police officers are hired to handle traffic crimes, there are rules and laws they must follow with their jobs. When a police officer is working, he or she has the right to pull a person over when the police officer sees the person break a law. In other words, officers cannot pull people over just because they feel like it. They need a reason to make a traffic stop, and this is designed to stop police officers from targeting people for no apparent reason.
If you were not doing anything wrong when you were pulled over, you might be able to fight the charges on the basis that the officer had no good reason to pull you over, even if you did have alcohol in your system and were accused of a DUI.
Proving this is not easy
The hardest part in a case like this is proving why the officer pulled you over. The officer may have said that your car crossed the middle line of the road, and whose testimony is this based on? If there happened to be a witness that comes forward that can testify that you did nothing wrong, you might be able to get out of the charge. The problem is that these cases often boil down to your word versus the testimony of the police officer.
Having a warrant voids this rule
The third thing you should realize is that if you have a warrant out for your arrest and an officer pulls you over for no apparent reason, you lose your constitutional right to fight the case on the basis that the officer did not have a legitimate reason to pull you over.
If you believe that you were pulled over for no reason at all and if you have any proof that backs this claim, you should discuss your case with a DUI attorney to find out if you might be able to get the charges for your DUI dropped.