Is the DUI check process in the US unnecessarily embarrassing?

Definitely pushing the limits!

Welcome to America :/

And yes, it’s fairly normal (or at least not nearly as rare as it should be), though not exactly legal… unless they BS their way around it.

Wow, I never heard of such treatment. DUI tests I have no problem with, but that is way beyond. Is that typical???

Here in USA they are always setting up RBT (random breath tests) where they pull over a bunch of cars at a time and the cops go down the line and you blow into a thingy and it gives them an instant read out. If you are over a certain reading then other steps are taken. If you blow under the limit then off you go on your merry way.

I can’t imagine it has gotten that bad in USA???

This does seem a little extreme. I’ve seen many checkpoints, and on occasion I’ve seen someone sitting on the curb, but never a whole row of people. I can’t believe they couldn’t just ask you to blow into a breathalyzer, rather than waiting for a mobile lab to check blood alcohol. That’s craziness.

@rooeytoo It depends on where you are, but there was a DUI suspect around where I live a while back who was about to drive away drunk when he was tased, shot, and killed

Of course, that was rather extreme by even our standards, but there are some places where it is truly horrific. While the majority of cases are handled properly and all, there are enough cases that even a one-in-a-million thing will happen fairly frequently.

Whatever drove you to move from a free country to the US?
Anyway, next time, threaten the copper to invade and gas his family.

I meant here in Australia!!!

@ragingloli never misses an opportunity to dump on the USA. I am sure no one ever even gets drunk in Germany!

Here prisions and probably the portable lab are private entities paid by the government. They probably make a certain amount per test and prisoner so they are eager to get another check.

I am sorry for the treatment you received. That is not normal in my area (western NY). The State Troopers use breathalyzers – a simple quick test.
You need to publicize this treatment. Say what state, town and police force treated you in such a manner.
As @johnpowell said they might be doing it just for the money. Expose them for what they are: money grubbing, corrupt, power freaks, with tiny, deformed genitals. Obviously I can’t be sure of all of those characteristics. They might not be corrupt. Help fix the problem. Spread the word by telling the facts with no embellishment.

I agree with Lucky Guy. I think most people who received such treatment might be embarassed to put the word out about it, because of the stigma against drunk driving. However, that doesn’t mean you all should have been treated the way you were. I would publicize that somehow. It seems like your rights may have been violated, and although I’m not sure what or how because I am not too up on those laws but I would consider talking to a professional about it, if I were you.

Thanks everyone for your answers!

@rooeytoo, yep, people do get drunk in Germany but the only thing that could happen is geting a breath test and if they had too much to drink their car may be impounded and they have to pick it up later on their expense but certainly no handcuffs and stuff like that.

In the meantime I researched this a bit more online and based on what I’ve seen on youtube I’d say the humiliating exercises, having to remove your shoes and the handcuffs seem rather standard practice in more than one place in the US for this kind of checks…

see www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItSuYQIuBnI or www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqLeCZeKDj4 which seem pretty similar to my experience with the cop on a power trip asking them to do all sort of pointless and humiliating exercises some of which I’m not even sure if they help establish if you’re drunk or not…e.g. in the second video above he asks her to keep her hands on her face while he gives her instructions…how is that relevant to her being drunk or not?

@verena_m Something was definately messed up with this situation. That they had 4 people handcuffed and waiting for the tests smells really bad. Some cop has a scam going. Contact the press and find a sympathetic ear. Where was this in the US?

Sorry you had to go through that. Some cops go way too far with this stuff, frankly because they’re A-holes and they want to ruin the image of police for the good ones.

Most cops will not be that ridiculous when checking to see if you are drunk. But unfortunately everything he did is within the law.

@tedd: Keeping her in cuffs on her knees on pavement (no pants on, mind you, but bare knees) for a half hour despite passing Breath-Alyzer?

@jca You could try and do something, but my guess is no judge is going to find fault. It’s “detaining.” I’ve been arrested for similarly ridiculous stuff, and seen cops flat out physically abuse kids for under age drinking. Cops get away with a ton of stuff here, especially with DUI laws being what they are, they have very few limits. She’s honestly lucky they gave her the blood test, they could have arrested her basically at their own discretion, despite passing a breathalyzer (pending the state).

I’m sure you’ve heard of our Constitution and probable cause….
Yeah, those don’t exist in the US anymore.

Welcome to Fluther (and welcome to the USA).

I’ve never been stopped in the US for any kind of random or specific question about drinking (although when I eat out with friends a couple of times per month or more I almost always have a couple of drinks with the meal). I don’t think that I’ve ever driven impaired from alcohol, though. I still wouldn’t look forward to being stopped, interrogated and breathalyzed or blood-tested.

However… despite the way you’re dressed and what you’re carrying to indicate that you just came from a business meeting (or even if you just came from work itself), that’s irrelevant to the check. Drunks drink anywhere.

If the officer thought he smelled alcohol on your breath, that’s prima facie evidence to check for DUI. After that, they have various ways to check that you can pay attention, stand and balance, obey simple instructions, etc. – and then move to the clinical checks: breathalyzer or blood test, in case of lingering doubts. That is, “in case of lingering exculpatory doubts.” If they have failures from the initial tests, such as your failure to keep quiet when so ordered, or to stand still (or stand at all), or walk in a straight line, etc., then they’ll arrest on that obvious evidence. Failing that, they continue to look for evidence of drunkenness.

Regarding the uncomfortable wait and the fact that you were handcuffed while waiting, part of that is the liability that police departments face, too. If they suspect you of being drunk, but haven’t yet been able to collect evidence to support the belief, they can’t take the risk of you running away, because you could get hurt then… and it would be their fault. That’s not exactly “fair”, either, but that’s the way it is now. So you have to be positively detained (for your protection and theirs) until the fact of your sobriety can be established.

The take-home message from this: Don’t ever let a cop smell alcohol on your breath.

@CWOTUS
If she passed the ‘breathaliser’ test then there was no alcohol in her breath, period. Meaning the pig copper lied to have a pretext for his little power play.

I didn’t see anything in the original details about having passed a breathalyzer test, @ragingloli. If it was in one of the follow-up responses, well, I haven’t read all of those.

Sorry, my bad. I mentioned Breathalyzer test and the OP did not at any point. She said she passed all the field sobriety tests. Regardless, I think my problem with what happened to her is the same – she passed tests and yet he felt like keeping her, and keeping her in cuffs seems inexcusable, especially for a half hour and especially since he had no grounds, except smelling alcohol.

From what I’ve seen, once cops start the field sobriety tests, they seem to like to test and test and test until the person screws up. Lucky for OP she didn’t screw up.

@CWOTUS
Hmm, it seems I mistook jca’s comment for the op’s.
But the my point still stands. No alcohol in her blood, therefore no way for it to be present in her breath.

@jca If they are detaining you, they will almost certainly put cuffs on you. Anything that happens to you while they are detaining you is on them. I’ve heard stories before of people passing breathalyzers who still end up being arrested for a DUI, so there are ways for cops to get around it, as infuriating as that is.

Uh, @ragingloli, there was no way to tell there was no significant blood alcohol level until the mobile lab could be set up, then the blood drawn and tested. That was what the wait was for.

I agree with all that it was inconvenient and frustrating, but that’s the de facto balance we’ve decided upon, apparently, between total liberty (and a lot more drunk drivers) and a far more restrictive policy of “arrest everyone with alcohol on their breath” ... which is also a possibility.

@CWOTUS
If the test came back negative it means there was no alcohol in her blood, therefore it could not have been in her breath, therefore he could not have smelled it. But since he claimed that he did, the conclusion is that he lied.

Have you ever had a drink, @ragingloli? The alcohol is “on your breath” some time before it is in your blood. Aside from that, it is very possible that the officer smelled alcohol on the OP’s breath (she admitted that she had drunk alcohol, after all), but it had not risen to a level that state law determines to be unacceptable in the blood alcohol test.

That’s what smells about this. A DUI checkpoint with no breathalyzers? Give me a break. And the lab wasn’t setup at all? Something is wrong with this picture.

Yeah, no argument on that count, @Adirondackwannabe. No breathalyzers and no BAC tester? At a mass stop? That’s very odd.

@CWOTUS
Nowhere has she written that she admitted to it.

@ragingloli I smelled alcohol on my g/f’s breath the other night and she hasn’t had a drink in weeks. It’s 100% arbitrary and no judge in the land is going to say a cop was lying about what he smelled, unless you somehow have him recorded saying he lied. Nor will a judge fault an officer for thinking he smelled alcohol even if it later comes out that there is no possible way he could have. And as I’ve pointed out before, in some states you can pass a breathalyzer and still land yourself a DUI. Just passing that isn’t a 100% get out of jail free card. Most cops would obviously let you go if you passed it, but if they want to be a dick, they can.

OK, @tedd, keep her in cuffs but why on her knees when she had a skirt on? Was that necessary?

@jca No probably not at all. But again, the cop has the legal “right” to do it (as jack-assed and stupid as that is).

Touché, @ragingloli. You’re right.

Wow!! Never imagined my little post would create such a lively debate. This is clearly the best Q&A site I’ve ever seen!

Just to clarify a few things mentioned by some of the posters:

1. I did have a glass of wine when we had dinner.
2. They didn’t set up the mobile lab especially for me or the other 4 people I mentioned but I think we arrived very shortly after they setup the dui checkpoint which is why we had to wait for the lab to be setup. By the time I was allowed to leave there were a few other people waiting to have blood taken and I think in their case the wait was much shorter since everything was already setup. From what I understood while waiting this was a major dui operation (on a relatively trafficked road) and they were planning to keep it going the whole night so I think I got there in a very early stage of the whole thing. By the time I left there was much more activity going on, with lots of police cars, flashing lights, a queue of cars pulled over for checks, others let go, so way busier than when they first stopped me.
3. It’s clear to me that being put in handcuffs was legal and is the norm in such situations in the US so I don’t plan to challenge that in court, the only thing I’m saying is that putting everyone in handcuffs regardless if they are a real threat or not is something the US should change by taking example from other countries. I mean such treatment is unheard of in Europe and in spite of the lack of handcuffs Europe doesn’t have more police death or prisoner escapes than the US, on the contrary.
4. Having to kneel on our heels was in my view what was really over the top even for a strict law enforcement country like the US but don’t really know if they are allowed to legally do it or not. If they are, that’s wrong and they souldn’t. Personally I think he did to teach me a lesson because I did backtalk a little during the whole thing and he was clearly pissed off by that I could see it on his face.
5. To anyone thinking that I shouldn’t criticize the country I now live in, and if I don’t like how things are done in the US of A there’s nobody forcing me to stay here, I fully agree. I certainly never tried to imply that everything about the US is bad, but at the same time there’s always room for improvement in every country and it is oftentimes when you come from abroad that you better notice what’s good and what’s bad about a place as everything is new to you. After you stay a while you get used to the situation and start seeing the way things are done there as the normal way…and this complacency is sometimes dangerous, I mean many US people probably find it perfectly natural for folks to be cuffed for very minor issues never realizing that there are countries in which this would be unacceptable.
6. Finally, I have to say that for quite some time from now I’ll probably have a big knot in my stomach every time I’ll leave work late, thinking this could happen again, and it’s a pity I experience such fear of being abused by the police in what is called “the land of the free”

Stick around, @verena_m. It gets even better sometimes.

In defense of the policy to use handcuffs (not that I necessarily agree with it, but just to play devil’s advocate here), putting “everyone” in handcuffs obviates the later charges that the police are prejudiced against any group based on gender, age, race, perceived class, etc. The police in this country are very sensitive to charges of favoritism and preferential treatment of some groups of people over others. So, everyone is in handcuffs and sitting on the curb, and no one is exempt unless physically incapable – usually.

The liability issue I mentioned above is real, too. People (and more often than not, those who are already drunk or on drugs) will frequently run, will frequently get hurt, and will then always sue. And lawsuits, even frivolous lawsuits, cost police departments (and the jurisdictions for which they are responsible) time and money. So, again, if you immobilize the suspects in a passive way, then there’s less liability. (And also less risk to the officer, which is also no small thing.)

@CWOTUS Not sure if this won’t turn the discussion towards a whole different topic, but I personally don’t think that treating everyone the same is such a brilliant thing to do. Tel Aviv airport seems to be a pretty safe place through the heavy use of profiling and I’m not sure the western airport security circus is in any way better, with TSA groping 90yo grannies, people with artificial legs or little 5 years old kids. Rather than pretending everyone is the same and spending billions checking midwest housewifes for bombs wouldn’t it be better to just admit what everyone knows, that some groups are more likely than others to do certain things?

There are also countries where only men get cuffed behind and women in front. Is that such a bad thing? I mean by their physical constitution and genetic makeup women are a lot less prone to be violent and create problems for cops. Everyone knows these things so why pretend they don’t exist?

Like I said, I’m not personally defending the practice; I actually abhor it. But it’s what many police departments do to avoid having to evaluate every case, and thereby open themselves up to charges, whether real or imagined. It’s something that has happened in the US gradually over my lifetime. It didn’t used to be this way.