My advice would probably be for the person to put their hands on the steering wheel and just keep them there. They should talk to the officer and be friendly, and they should provide the officer with their license, registration and insurance when the officer asked for it.
If the officer asked about alcohol, then they should just tell the officer they would not answer those questions. It would be a good idea for the person to tell the officer they were invoking their right to remain silent, and it would be fine to tell the officer they would not answer any questions unless they had an attorney present.
They could also ask the officer if they were free to leave and whether they were under arrest.
It Would Be Okay To Try To Record The Interaction
In this day and age, it would be okay for the person to tell the officer they wanted to record the interaction and ask if the officer would not mind if the person got out their cell phone and started recording it. They could put the camera or their on the dashboard or they could ask the officer to put the phone in the person’s business shirt pocket.
Try Not To Incriminate Yourself
The person should try not to give the officer information to use against them. If they were going to make an arrest then they would arrest the person whether or not they were being cooperative.
It would probably be the best idea to just not give the officer any information, because the person would not be able to hide it if they had an odor of alcohol on their breath or bloodshot eyes. At the same time they would not have to tell the officer they had consumed alcohol, and they would not have to tell the officer they had used drugs or prescription medications.
Always Be Polite And Cooperative With The Officer
In the long run, it would end up being much more beneficial if the person was nice to the officer, although they would not necessarily have to cooperate with them. The officer may ask the person to step out of the vehicle, so the person should comply and do that because they would not be in a better position by ignoring the officer.
I have literally seen people being dragged out of their windows for ignoring the officer. People should abide by what the officer says, and if the officer, rightfully or wrongfully, asked the person to get out of the car, then the person should just get out of the car.
They could politely refuse if the officer requested that a person to do field sobriety tests, or if the officer asked them to blow into a portable breath-testing device. If the officer wanted to arrest the person, rightfully or wrongfully, they would arrest the person.
Resisting Arrest Can Get You In More Trouble
At that point the person should just comply with the arrest. They should not try to struggle or pull away. They should just allow themselves to be arrested.
The legal and factual issues can be taken care of later on. People who pull away because they think they were being wrongfully arrested are the ones who end up with felony charges of resisting arrest or felony charges of committing an assault on an officer when they would otherwise have just been charged with a misdemeanor DUI.
The case might possibly have a lot of good legal and factual issues so that it might ultimately end up being dismissed down from a DUI to reckless driving or whatever might happen with the case.
If it got to a point where the person had already been arrested and the officer asked whether the person consented to a blood, breath or urine test, then the best suggestion would usually be to ultimately just consent to the test, but in the meantime they could tell the officer that they were not refusing but they would still like to speak to a lawyer.
The Police Could Interpret Anything To Mean A Refusal So They Could Suspend The Driver’s License.
Unfortunately, some officers would still consider that as a refusal. The safest thing would probably be to not try and talk to a lawyer if the license was a huge aspect, because there have been many occasions where the Arizona Department of Transportation misinterpreted the law and suspended the people’s license simply because they requested to speak to an attorney.
The Arizona Department of Transportation and Executive Hearing Office would generally consider that a refusal even though there is case law directly on a point that states it should not be considered a refusal.
Ultimately, it would always be recommended for the person to consent to the blood or breath test requested at the police station or at the DUI van because one way or another, the police would get that sample if they wanted to.
After that the person should try to contact an attorney as soon as possible and set up a consultation so that things could be reviewed and so they would have the best chance of getting the case dismissed or knocked down. The person would really have the best chances if they talked to an attorney as soon as possible.
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