Frequently asked questions
A: First and foremost, any statement that you make during a traffic stop can almost always be used against you in court. You have a right to remain silent or not to make incriminating statements against yourself, especially if you are asked whether you have been drinking or have anything illegal in your vehicle. You also have a right to refuse to answer questions or refuse a request to consent to a search of your vehicle by a police officer.
There is no law in Ohio that requires you to submit to field sobriety tests at the request of a police officer. However, in most cases, you will be arrested if you refuse these tests. If you refuse to take field sobriety tests, it will be very difficult for prosecutors to prove the case against you. The law in Ohio requires that you take a blood, breath, or urine test if asked to do so by a police officer. You can refuse to take a blood, breath, or urine test, but you will undergo a pretrial Administrative License Suspension (ALS) by the Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV) that will be longer than a penalty for failing a test. However, by refusing a blood, breath, or urine test it will be much harder for prosecutors to prove the case against you.
Reasonable Suspicion to Pull Over a Vehicle in Ohio
In Ohio, the law is well settled that police officers must have ‘Reasonable Suspicion’ to make a traffic stop or to pull over a vehicle. ‘Reasonable Suspicion’ is a lower threshold than, and is not to be confused with, a legal standard, known as ‘Probable Cause’ – the standard necessary to make an arrest. Ohio courts have frequently held that ‘Reasonable Suspicion’ means that the police officer must be able to point to specific and articulable facts, which reasonably warrant or justify the traffic stop.
When it comes to OVI charges and DUI charges, these offenses are much easier to justify as reasonable if police officers can establish one or more of the violations below which constitute ‘reasonable suspicion.’
‘Reasonable Suspicion’ helps justify an OVI/DUI traffic stop
Previous Ohio law held that police officers could not conduct traffic stops for de minimus violations, or minor violations, in order to conduct fishing expeditions for more egregious violations. As the law in Ohio stands now, so long as police officers can point to specific and articulable facts, no matter how minor, to justify the traffic stop, ‘Reasonable Suspicion’ will be satisfied.
In effect,
this means that OVI / DUI traffic stops may be justified as reasonable if police officers can establish specific and articulable facts related to moving violations and vehicle equipment violations, including but not limited to:
- Speeding Offenses
- Failure to Obey Traffic Signals
- Failure to Maintain Lanes of Travel
- Weaving
- Swerving
- Failure to Use Turn Signals
- Inoperative Headlight(s)
- Inoperative Taillight(s)
- Inoperative License Plate Light
- License Plate Tag Violations
- Expired Driver’s License
Defense Attorney Michael Probst
Defense Attorney Michael Probst has represented many clients arrested and charged with either a Columbus OVI offense/DUI offense or OVI/DUI offenses throughout Ohio, all of whom have made challenges that police officers lacked ‘Reasonable Suspicion’ to conduct a traffic stop. Many OVI/DUI traffic stops are recorded and preserved on police officer cruiser video systems. It is extremely important in every case for a DUI attorney to review all evidence, including video evidence of traffic stops, to determine whether police have reasonable suspicion to pull over the vehicle subject of an OVI/DUI traffic stop.
Contact our OVI/DUI defense attorney in Columbus, Ohio at Probst Law Office, Inc today at 614-232-8890 with questions you may have regarding grounds for being pulled over. Let us provide you with the DUI help you need in Ohio.