This case involves a client who crashed his vehicle off the interstate into the cement barriers which are sometimes located near the median areas. When the police found him he had no shoes on, was covered in mud and stated he had been drinking shots, beer and mixed drinks.
The mistake the officer made was moving the client to a different location to perform field sobriety tests. Officers are allowed to do that, except, there is a limitation on the distance they can move someone who is not under arrest. We had a motion hearing on the distance the officer moved the client and the court found that the distance was too great. The court then suppressed the test result in the case which was a .15. The state could have tried to move forward with the accident and observations of the client. Thankfully, the state moved to dismiss all the charges. Great result on a motion that isn't filed that often.