The client allegedly was speeding and driving erratically. The officer paced the offender and reported his vehicle speed at 87 mph as our client was pulling away from him. The speed limit was 65 mph. Allegedly, our client continued to drive erratically, speeding and weaving in between cars. According to the police report, there was a strong odor of alcohol emitting from our client’s face and person, his eyes were red and glassy, and his speech was slurred. The client admitted to having consumed some cognac before driving. The report notes that our client failed the Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus test (eye test), and claims that he performed poorly on other field sobriety tests, but gives not further details. Our client was arrested for DUI and read his implied consent rights, but did not understand them and gave no response. The officer regarded the lack of a response as a refusal and took the client to jail.
The client was charged with DUI alcohol less safe, reckless driving, speeding 21-25 over, driving too fast for conditions, failure to maintain lane, improper turn signal, and following too closely. After reviewing the video it was apparent that the Client was no less safe and the Solicitor and Officer agreed to dismiss the DUI charges for a plea to reckless driving. Our client plead to reckless driving and received a sentence of a 500 fine, 12 months probation, 40 hours of community service, and DUI school.