Covington DUI Police Arrest two for Driving Under the Influence

Media reports that Covington Police recently arrested two people for DUI.  One was seen driving through a ditch in the parking lot of a bar. A Covington Police Office chased the alleged offender on foot.  The problem is that there are only two types of driving offences that police can arrest for on private property.  One is DUI and the other is reckless driving.  So unless driving through a ditch was with reckless disregard to persons and property, then the stop was probably without articulable suspicion and illegal.  There was no evidence that the driver had been drinking prior to the stop. In the second DUI, Covington police received a phone call from a neighbor that a woman had run into a home with a car and was possibly DUI.  When the Covington DUI officers arrived they found the car with minor damage, a cracked headlight, parked next to the home. The DUI Officers of the Covington Poice Department knocked on the front door and no one came. They tried the back door. It was locked.  So they climbed through a kitchen window.  The woman was hiding in her laundry room.  She was arrested for DUI.   Problem: you can not enter a person's home without a warrant unless the offense was committed in the officers presence and the DUI officer is in hot pursuit or there are exigent circumstances.  Exigent circumstances would a medical emergency, a trail of blood, screams coming from inside.  There were no signs of danger or exigent circumstances.  If a competent DUI lawyer is hired, these charges have a good chance of being thrown out of court.

 

< Prev		Next >