Attorney: Passing Field Sobriety Test Doesn’t Mean You Won’t Get DUI
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JACKSON, Tenn. — A sobering ruling by the Tennessee Supreme Court for suspected drunk drivers. The justices decided merely being able to walk a straight line and touch your nose when you are pulled over is not enough to prove you are okay to be behind the wheel. The case ruling, Friday, started with David Dwayne Bell, a man in Sevier County, Tennessee who was arrested after taking 6 field sobriety tests and was still arrested. “Just because you pass a field sobriety test doesn’t mean they can’t arrest you,” Attorney Michael Weinman said. The Tennessee Supreme Court ruled Friday that if you are pulled over and an officer suspects you have been drinking, he can arrest you even if you pass a field sobriety test. West Tennesseans are on both sides of the debate. “If you pass the test and they take you to jail anyway, I don’t think that’s considered a good choice,” DeeDee Hinton said. “To me, you’re still driving under the influence of alcohol and you can still be a danger to other people on the roads so I feel like it’s a fair judgement,” Laquita Robinson said. Some officers said besides a field sobriety test if they smell alcohol when a driver rolls down their window or they have red eyes, sometimes they have reason to believe a driver should not be on the roads. “The sobriety test is just one factor they can look at in determining whether or not there is probable cause to arrest somebody for DUI,” Weinman said. Even though the man in Bell passed six sobriety tests before being arrested, Weinman said sometimes that is just not enough in the eyes of the law. “He smelled strongly of alcohol. He admitted that he’d had too much to drink that night,” Weinman explained. That is why some West Tennesseans think now, a field sobriety test should never be the only benchmark to determine if a driver should be behind the wheel. “It’s a scary feeling to think he passed and if they’d let him go. He could’ve hurt someone,” Robinson said. David Dwayne Bell blew a .15 that night in the breathalyzer, almost twice the legal limit of .08. Bell and his lawyer said he will be taking this case to trial.
