Novel excuse fails to convince cop during DUI stop.
Earlier this month, a Wisconsin driver attempted a novel excuse to explain away the odor of alcohol that a sheriff’s deputy smelled on his breath. He earnestly explained that he had not been drinking, but had actually just finished eating some beer-battered fish at a community fish fry. Surely that would explain the odor the officer smelled!
Unfortunately for the driver, 75-year-old John Przybyla, this proved wildly unconvincing. Most damaging to his claim he had not been drinking were the facts that:
- The deputy had seen him driving erratically
- His eyes were bloodshot and had a glazed appearance
- He had an open can of Red Dog brand beer on the passenger seat beside him
- He failed his field sobriety tests
The fact that Przybyla was driving on a revoked license and already had 9 prior DUI convictions certainly didn’t help matters any.
Przybyla blew a 0.062 on his Breathalyzer test, which was well below the legal limit of 0.08 for a normal person with a clean record. However, due to his prior convictions anything over 0.02 was actually a violation for him and therefore this incident resulted in his tenth drunk driving charge.
This strange news story highlights several important points about what you should and should not do during a DUI stop.
First of all, it is never wise to lie to an officer of the law. Rather than offering an excuse about beer-battered fish, Przybyla would have done well to simply keep silent.
Secondly, it is never in your best interests to perform field sobriety tests. By this we mean the balance and coordination tests that police officers may ask you to perform, not the breathalyzer tests that you may actually be required by law to comply with. There is no point in complying with a request to perform field sobriety tests, because they are not designed to help you prove your innocence. Instead, they are designed to help prove you are intoxicated and secure more evidence to be used against you in court.
Finally, it is important to understand that having an open container of alcohol in the car at the time of your DUI can be a serious problem in California. Not only can it confirm the law enforcement officer’s suspicion that you may be drunk and make them more aggressive in investigating the case, if you are convicted of a DUI your open container can result in a harsher sentence. For example, first-time DUI offenders often don’t have to go to jail, but the presence of an open container could tip the scales and result in at least 48 hours behind bars.
If you need help defending against a DUI charge, please do not hesitate to contact Chambers Law Firm for expert representation.
