- Like you’ve heard on TV and in movies, you have the right to remain silent. You do not have to answer an officer’s questions.
- The field sobriety tests are voluntary. You do not need to submit to them.
- You have the right to decline the horizontal gaze nystagmus test, the one-legged stand and the walk and turn test.
- You can and should decline to blow into the portable breath test. It is an unreliable and inadmissible instrument used only to help police find probable cause to arrest you.
- You have the right to a lawyer. You should insist on being able to call a lawyer after arrest and transfer to the police station.
What to do and not do:
- Don’t admit to drinking; remember, you have the right to remain silent.
- Do not perform the field sobriety tests. They are “voluntary” and you are allowed to refuse them.
- Do not blow into the portable breath test on the side of the road. That test is unreliable and inadmissible in court, however, police use it as a means to find probable cause to arrest you.
- Be polite and cooperative, however, again, you do not need to talk or take any voluntary tests.
- Ask to speak to a lawyer immediately if you are arrested.
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