Queens Criminal Law Blog

If you go out to have drinks with friends, then you're probably familiar with when you begin to feel tipsy or when you've had too much to drink. Any time you're impaired, it's a bad idea to get behind the wheel of a car, since you could face a DWI. However, the last time you went out, you didn't feel the effects of alcohol as much as usual. You felt fine enough to drive.

When the officer pulled you over, it wasn't long until he used a Breathalyzer on you. It came back with different readings each time, one at .07, another at .09 and one at .04. Based on what he saw, he placed you under arrest, but was that really fair?

You've never thought of yourself as a violent person, and you'd never intentionally hurt someone. Your spouse, on the other hand, has never been particularly calm. She often yells at you or strikes out at you, even though it's nothing serious and usually ends in a few minutes.

Lately, your spouse has been accusing you of being abusive. You can't see how that would be possible, since she's the one who is always angry at you, but you know it's important to defend yourself. Even false allegations could seriously impact your life.

Field sobriety tests are a series of tests performed to show that you have a good sense of balance, good reflexes and are coherent. These tests help officers decide if you're intoxicated or under the influence of other substances.

The sad truth about field sobriety tests is that even sober people fail them. Once you fail, that failure is used as evidence against you, even if you weren't under the influence at the time. Even if you end up with an all-clear for your sobriety, you'll still have an arrest on your record.

Imagine driving home from work one night. During your evening commute through Queens, a police officer pulls you over. You had been feeling a bit off, dizzy even, so you were not totally surprised when the officer asked if you had been drinking. You were surprised, however, when the breathalyzer test came back positive for alcohol. You had not had a drop of alcohol since the weekend, so there was no possible way the test could be correct. Unfortunately, the officer's first reaction was to arrest you for driving while intoxicated (DWI).

Acetone on the breath can easily lead to a false positive on a breathalyzer test. This is because these devices are calibrated to pick up the presence of alcohol in general, not just beer and liquor. Unfortunately, since acetone is a byproduct of certain conditions, this can cause an individual suffering from hypoglycemia to blow a positive reading.