Everyone knows about sobriety tests. If you get one tiny thing wrong, you fail. Though these tests may be hard to take, it turns out they can also be difficult to give. And if they’re not given correctly, the results can unfairly give someone an undeserved DUI.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has come up with three standardized field sobriety tests that police officers can use to see if someone is drunk or not. The officers are trained to properly administer these tests and evaluate the results so that the conclusions made can be backed up by research. However, if these tests are not administered or evaluated properly by the police officer, the results can be seen as invalid and will not be able to be considered as evidence against the person in question.
In addition, a botched test by a police officer can put said officer’s entire opinion and proficiency on the matter into question. That is usually enough information alone to raise reasonable doubt in the case. It is not only the person taking the test whose behavior should be monitored, but the police officer’s behavior as well.
It is important that when taking one of these sobriety tests, not only perform to the best of your ability, but also remember how the test was administered to you. A mistake on the part of the officer while giving the test can be the difference between accurate and inaccurate results, or the difference between guilty and not guilty.
