The Law Offices of Lawrence Taylor Video Library
► NOW PLAYING: What Advice Do You Have For Drivers Who Are Stopped For A Possible DUI?
Mr. Taylor explains what rights a person has when they are pulled over by the police, and what they should and should not do when they are pulled over. The main message here is don’t drink and drive. Although it is not illegal to drink and drive, groups like MADD have embedded in people’s heads throughout society that drinking and driving don’t mix, no matter how little a person has drank. It is important to be polite and cooperative with the officer that pulls you over. If a person is uncooperative and does not respect the officer’s authority, that will do nothing but hurt his or her situation. Mr. Taylor advises people to not take the field sobriety tests because there is no legal obligation to take them. The best thing to do is to refuse to take them, and also refuse to answer any questions about your activities on that day. People do not have a legal right to refuse to answer the questions asked of them, but it is in people’s best interests to not answer the questions. The reason is that, months later, when the hearing occurs, the arresting officer is not going to remember anything about the case and is going to simply rely on his report. There is no doubt that only the incriminating things said will end up in the report, not any of the exonerating things that people say to the police. Finally, it is in people’s best interests to not take the PAS (passive alcohol sensor) or the PBT (preliminary breath test) because both are highly inaccurate. There is no legal obligation to take these tests unless you are already under arrest, or if you are under the age the twenty-one.
Show Transcript
Richard Jacobs (RJ): So what advice do you have for people who, that are you know, are social drinkers who like to go out every once and awhile and have a drink. What advice do you have for them, when they’re, you know, when they are about to get in the car and drive? Or when they’re, you know, when they’re being pulled over and maybe arrested for DUI?
Lawrence Taylor (LT): Well, those are two different questions. First, don’t drink and drive.
RJ: Okay.
LT: Okay, it is not illegal to drink and drive, and we have to pound that into juries sometimes because MADD has done such a good job indoctrinating them that don’t drink and drive, alcohol and driving don’t mix, it does not matter if you only had one drink. Well, that’s not true, but having said that, I understand how the system works; I understand what the cop’s going to think when he pulls me over and smells that alcohol on my breath and I know I am half home to the jail cell by then, simply for that reason alone.
RJ: Right.
LT: Everything else he sees is going to be colored by the fact that he smells alcohol on your breath. Personally, then, my wife is a tee-totaller thank god and if I had a single drink, if I have alcohol on my breath, she drives.
RJ: Okay.
LT: I don’t need an officer smelling alcohol on my breath and I would suggest if you’re a social drinker find some other way than driving if you can. Having said that, and if you do get stopped, it’s a complex situation again. What would be my advice? First of all, right off the bat, don’t flunk the attitude test, and I think you know what I mean.
RJ: Right, right.
LT: Don’t have an attitude, be cooperative, the cop – cops are human beings, they don’t appreciate it if you don’t submit to their authority and you know do what they say and be nice about it. So be respectful, follow his directions as much as possible, and I will get to that in a second, but don’t flunk that attitude test. Not only is it going to upset him, it is going to color what he sees and it is going to color what he puts in that police report.
RJ: Again, you’re dealing with a human being and if you piss them off you’re not going to be in a good way.
LT: And most police officers I’ve encounter, not in the field necessarily, but as an attorney, don’t like having their authority challenged and they don’t, you know, there is a saying in the police department about administering field punishment, such as putting the cuffs on a little too tightly so that they are painful for an hour or so, being a little rough maybe. You know there are things that can be done to adjust attitudes, as well as having a different slant on the facts . . .
RJ: Right.
LT: So, don’t flunk the attitude test. Secondly, that doesn’t mean when I say be cooperative that you have to do everything he says.
RJ: Okay.
LT: You have absolutely no legal requirement to take the field sobriety tests; don’t. I don’t care how sober you are, don’t, you’re not going to pass them. They are not passable, they are simply three exercises the officer uses and he decides what he wants to do with those. So, if you do well, it’s not going to look that way, if you do badly, it’s going to still look bad; I mean, it’s going, you’re not going to pass. There is an old saying amongst experienced DUI attorneys and that is you, you cannot pass the field sobriety test; it is not passable. . .
RJ: Really?
LT: So there’s no legal obligations to do it; don’t do it.
RJ: Okay.
LT: But be respectful about it; say, “thank you, but I’d rather speak to an attorney first,” or whatever. . .
RJ: Right.
LT: but be cooperative. When he starts asking you questions - How much have you had to drink? Where were you? What have you, you know, what did you drink? When? Where? I would suggest again that you respectfully ask to speak with an attorney first, now he’s going to tell you don’t have the right to an attorney and, surprisingly, he’s right.
RJ: Really?
LT: That’s one of those old constitutional rights flying out the window in DUI cases. You don’t have the right, so don’t argue it, he’s right. But that doesn’t mean you have to answer these questions. Why shouldn’t you, because it is not going to come out in the report, the way you said it.
RJ: Ah, okay.
LT: If it helps you, he’s not going to put it in the report. Why should he?
RJ: Right.
LT: If it hurts you in any way, it, it can be seen that way, it is going to be in the report. That’s important because it tells the DA whether to file the charges or not. And this police officer six months from now, he’s testifying can’t remember this case. He doesn’t remember a thing about the case. He’s going to testify based on what he wrote in the report and there will be nothing but the incriminating things in there.
RJ: Ah, okay.
LT: The exonerating things, the things the client did right, he can honestly testify it didn’t happen. In the sense that he cannot remember it because it is not in the report.
RJ: So, anything you say essentially becomes crim notes later on for the officer in court.
LT: Like the FST’s, the Field Sobriety Tests, it tends to work in one direction only. Okay, the third thing is, and this gets a little more complicated, don’t take the PAS test, the PAS, PBT. PAS is the Passive Alcohol Sensor; PBT is Preliminary Breath Test. . .
RJ: Right.
LT: Same thing, it’s used, different terms are used. In California it’s usually the PAS, it’s called the PAS test. This is complicated, because increasingly, as I said, PAS devices are permitted into evidence. . .
RJ: Right.
LT: in Orange County, for example. That means you do have to take it, after you have been arrested, that’s the key. If it’s been given before, then it’s being used as a screening device and you have no legal obligation to take it, and don’t. They are highly inaccurate and they cannot help you. If you come in low and he wants to arrest you, he is going to arrest you any way.
RJ: Really?
LT: And then take you to the station and give you a breath or a blood test. So, don’t take it, unless you’re under twenty-one years of age.
RJ: Okay.
LT: The law permits the PAS test as a primary evidentiary breath test and refusing to take it, is a refusal. . .
RJ: Ah, okay.
LT: which carries a lot of consequences you do not want.
Lawrence Taylor (LT): Well, those are two different questions. First, don’t drink and drive.
RJ: Okay.
LT: Okay, it is not illegal to drink and drive, and we have to pound that into juries sometimes because MADD has done such a good job indoctrinating them that don’t drink and drive, alcohol and driving don’t mix, it does not matter if you only had one drink. Well, that’s not true, but having said that, I understand how the system works; I understand what the cop’s going to think when he pulls me over and smells that alcohol on my breath and I know I am half home to the jail cell by then, simply for that reason alone.
RJ: Right.
LT: Everything else he sees is going to be colored by the fact that he smells alcohol on your breath. Personally, then, my wife is a tee-totaller thank god and if I had a single drink, if I have alcohol on my breath, she drives.
RJ: Okay.
LT: I don’t need an officer smelling alcohol on my breath and I would suggest if you’re a social drinker find some other way than driving if you can. Having said that, and if you do get stopped, it’s a complex situation again. What would be my advice? First of all, right off the bat, don’t flunk the attitude test, and I think you know what I mean.
RJ: Right, right.
LT: Don’t have an attitude, be cooperative, the cop – cops are human beings, they don’t appreciate it if you don’t submit to their authority and you know do what they say and be nice about it. So be respectful, follow his directions as much as possible, and I will get to that in a second, but don’t flunk that attitude test. Not only is it going to upset him, it is going to color what he sees and it is going to color what he puts in that police report.
RJ: Again, you’re dealing with a human being and if you piss them off you’re not going to be in a good way.
LT: And most police officers I’ve encounter, not in the field necessarily, but as an attorney, don’t like having their authority challenged and they don’t, you know, there is a saying in the police department about administering field punishment, such as putting the cuffs on a little too tightly so that they are painful for an hour or so, being a little rough maybe. You know there are things that can be done to adjust attitudes, as well as having a different slant on the facts . . .
RJ: Right.
LT: So, don’t flunk the attitude test. Secondly, that doesn’t mean when I say be cooperative that you have to do everything he says.
RJ: Okay.
LT: You have absolutely no legal requirement to take the field sobriety tests; don’t. I don’t care how sober you are, don’t, you’re not going to pass them. They are not passable, they are simply three exercises the officer uses and he decides what he wants to do with those. So, if you do well, it’s not going to look that way, if you do badly, it’s going to still look bad; I mean, it’s going, you’re not going to pass. There is an old saying amongst experienced DUI attorneys and that is you, you cannot pass the field sobriety test; it is not passable. . .
RJ: Really?
LT: So there’s no legal obligations to do it; don’t do it.
RJ: Okay.
LT: But be respectful about it; say, “thank you, but I’d rather speak to an attorney first,” or whatever. . .
RJ: Right.
LT: but be cooperative. When he starts asking you questions - How much have you had to drink? Where were you? What have you, you know, what did you drink? When? Where? I would suggest again that you respectfully ask to speak with an attorney first, now he’s going to tell you don’t have the right to an attorney and, surprisingly, he’s right.
RJ: Really?
LT: That’s one of those old constitutional rights flying out the window in DUI cases. You don’t have the right, so don’t argue it, he’s right. But that doesn’t mean you have to answer these questions. Why shouldn’t you, because it is not going to come out in the report, the way you said it.
RJ: Ah, okay.
LT: If it helps you, he’s not going to put it in the report. Why should he?
RJ: Right.
LT: If it hurts you in any way, it, it can be seen that way, it is going to be in the report. That’s important because it tells the DA whether to file the charges or not. And this police officer six months from now, he’s testifying can’t remember this case. He doesn’t remember a thing about the case. He’s going to testify based on what he wrote in the report and there will be nothing but the incriminating things in there.
RJ: Ah, okay.
LT: The exonerating things, the things the client did right, he can honestly testify it didn’t happen. In the sense that he cannot remember it because it is not in the report.
RJ: So, anything you say essentially becomes crim notes later on for the officer in court.
LT: Like the FST’s, the Field Sobriety Tests, it tends to work in one direction only. Okay, the third thing is, and this gets a little more complicated, don’t take the PAS test, the PAS, PBT. PAS is the Passive Alcohol Sensor; PBT is Preliminary Breath Test. . .
RJ: Right.
LT: Same thing, it’s used, different terms are used. In California it’s usually the PAS, it’s called the PAS test. This is complicated, because increasingly, as I said, PAS devices are permitted into evidence. . .
RJ: Right.
LT: in Orange County, for example. That means you do have to take it, after you have been arrested, that’s the key. If it’s been given before, then it’s being used as a screening device and you have no legal obligation to take it, and don’t. They are highly inaccurate and they cannot help you. If you come in low and he wants to arrest you, he is going to arrest you any way.
RJ: Really?
LT: And then take you to the station and give you a breath or a blood test. So, don’t take it, unless you’re under twenty-one years of age.
RJ: Okay.
LT: The law permits the PAS test as a primary evidentiary breath test and refusing to take it, is a refusal. . .
RJ: Ah, okay.
LT: which carries a lot of consequences you do not want.
