Video – Attorney Kirk Tarman Explains The Purpose Behind The Field Sobriety Tests In A DUI Arrest

Ray Hrdlicka – Host – Attorneys.Media

“Let’s talk about the test at the time of the traffic stop.”

Kirk Tarman– Criminal Defense Attorney – San Bernardino County, CA

“Right.”

Ray Hrdlicka – Host – Attorneys.Media

“The officers see something, swerving, and then we’re going to talk about probable cause. What constitutes, that in a moment. But now they’re stopped. What type of test is going to fit that category that you talked about a moment ago?”

Kirk Tarman– Criminal Defense Attorney – San Bernardino County, CA

“Super good questions. So glad you ask these things. First of all, everybody who’s watching this has to understand, these following tests are all optional, meaning that you don’t have to do these tests. And let’s just say you have been drinking, you might be impaired. This is something that you should just tell the police officer, calmly professionally, ‘hey, I’m not going to be doing any of these field sobriety tests.’

However, most people, not knowing that, will begin these field sobriety tests. And there’s a number of them. Some of them are standardized tests. For example, the walk and turn test. Now this is a test. Almost all these tests are not only looking at coordination, but they’re looking for diverted attention, the ability to focus on multiple things at the same time.

So, they’re looking at, can you follow the instructions? Because they say, I want you to walk out nine, do these little steps, turn around, walk back, nine, keep…look at your toes while you’re walking, look down, etc., and count as you’re progressing. And they go, and there’s a litany of these things that they go through. So, they can basically go, walk nine, heal to toe steps out, turn around, come back, walk nine. And nine, heel to toe steps back.

Now, most people, because of the way that we work, we think we’re going to do ten. So, a lot of people will do ten, and then they will do…just it’s normal, and then they’ll do the turn incorrectly, because the police officer actually instructs and shows you’re going to do tiny little steps, turn around and then walk back. So, this is one of the things, where… do they do nine steps, and do they do the turn correctly? Do they listen to the instructions? Do they start before the police officer tells them to start? Can they hold their position, etc. So, this is this walk and turn test.”