At this point, the officer is attempting to gather evidence against you. It is important to remember that you have the right to remain silent. If the officer suspects that you are under the influence of alcohol, he or she may ask you to submit to a breathalyzer test.
Refusal to comply with the breathalyzer test will complicate things for you, so it is always best to ask to have an attorney present so that you can be advised of your legal rights accordingly. The Schill Law Group has a great deal of experience in this area and our job is to protect our clients from unintentionally making a bad situation much worse.
Yes, you do have 15 days to request a hearing on the suspension, but this is absolutely not something you should rely on.
Refusal to consent to a breathalyzer or other chemical test after an arrest is made could result in the officer obtaining a search warrant, allowing him or her to require you to provide a blood sample. Therefore, Arizona drivers are advised to take the breath test if requested by the police. The best way to avoid the situation altogether is to not drink and drive, and therefore never give a police officer cause to suspect you.
Do I Refuse the Breath Test? Published on: April 1, If you are stopped under suspicion of impaired driving in Arizona, the police officer will ask you some questions, check your license, and observe your behavior. Should you do it? Because of these potential consequences after a DUI arrest, it is only natural for a driver pulled over on suspicion of drunk driving to consider the consequences of refusing to assist police officers gather evidence that can be used against them.
This means that officers do not need to have a search warrant to administer a breath test if they believe you were driving while intoxicated, or if you are 21 and driving with any alcohol in your system. Refusal to take this test in Arizona can result in losing your license for a year or more. In , the Supreme Court ruled that some implied consent state laws are overreaching. Even though Arizona law implies that drivers consent to these tests if they are pulled over for drunk driving, if you do not expressly agree to or complete the test, your actions can be constituted as a refusal.
Drivers who refuse to submit to a breathalyzer test face consequences — even if it is later determined that you are not driving under the influence of blood or alcohol. The suspension period increases to two years if you have previously refused the test in the past seven 7 years. At the scene, the officer will give you an order of suspension that is effective fifteen 15 days later.
The officer must also file a certified report of refusal with the local police department. If your driving privileges are suspended as a result of refusing a breathalyzer test, you do have the option to challenge the suspension within 15 days. Until the hearing, you are still permitted to drive, even if the hearing is not scheduled until after the day period has ended.
If you want to challenge the suspension, you must be proactive — if you do not request the hearing, the license suspension will be automatic. At the hearing, the police officer must show up to testify, either in person or by phone. If the officer does not show up, the hearing officer must overturn the license suspension. If the officer does appear, he or she must prove a number of factors for the suspension to be upheld.
Specifically, the officer must show:. You should note that there is no requirement here to show that you were actually driving the vehicle while intoxicated — the officer merely must have a reasonable basis to believe that you were operating a motor vehicle or were in actual physical control of a motor vehicle while under the influence of drugs or alcohol, or, if you are under 21, were operating a vehicle with any alcohol in your system. If the hearing officer decides that the police officer met all the statutory requirements for license suspension, you can appeal this decision to the superior court within 30 days of the date the suspension was upheld.
This myth is incorrect. Even if you refuse a breathalyzer test, an officer still has tools available to determine if you are impaired.
0コメント