Volvo 1999 S70 headlight question for criminal motion to suppress on an OUI (or DUI)

Maintenance/Repairs
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21

@ missleman

Thankyou! Finally some common sense around here.

It amazes me that there is so many people here sympathetic to the intoxicated driver, I have come to the startling realization that there are many here that like to tip a few and then get behind the wheel.

The people that like to defend intoxicated drivers and gasp in horror when its suggested we use interlocks are the same ones who drive after drinking themselves.

If you are driving at night and don’t realize your headlights are not on, you don’t need a license, for whatever the reason, but usually its due to intoxication.

22

Rick,
Just who the heck are you accusing of being sympathetic to drunk drivers ???
Every answer given here is to say how bogus his his claim is because that could not possibly be a logical defense ! ( even if he, himself, normaly leaves them in the automatic setting day after day, does not guarantee they were on that night. )

Especially me living here in Gallup New Mexico ! We have one of the worst areas for DUI in the world. They even used to call us ‘‘drunk city usa’’ !

23

@asecular

If I got arrested for dui, I would plead guilty and get my slap on the wrist, Be responsible for what I did. Thats How I was raised, own up to it, be honest, take responsibility. I don’t drink and drive, so I would never be in that position. I used to drive recklessly, when I got caught I admitted to what I did and paid my fine. I didn’t try to blame it on my accelerator pedal sticking.

I am a Cdl driver, I am considered intoxicated at .04. Everyone should have to adhere to those rules. At .08 your cognitive ability is 70% of a sober person. There was a 21 year old girl that ran a red light in indianapolis and killed two paramedics, she blew a .05 and got off scott free, you cant tell me that the alcohol didn’t play into it.

If I got pulled over, and the officer accused me of driving while intoxicated, I would happily take a breathalyzer. I don’t drink, let alone drink and drive so the breathalyzer would read 0.0 and that would be that.

When I take random drug and alcohol tests at work, I have to take a breathalyzer. Guess what… It ALWAYS registers 0.0 I use mouthwash every morning, I have taken the test 30 minutes after I used mouthwash, it read 0.0 breathalyzers don’t lie, they don’t care what color you are.

I have seen numerous times a drunk hits a pole, I am often one of the first people to show up and get to witness the circus that is the Field Sobriety test. One lady hit a street light pole and claimed she dropped her cell phone and went to pick it up and crashed. The officer had her do field tests, she was obviously intoxicated, I could smell alcohol. She first blamed her swaying on her shoes, the officer told her she could take them off if she liked, Well then the wind was blowing 5mph, and that was causing her to sway. Then it was the strobe lights from my line truck and the police cruiser causing problems… It goes on and on… The officer was completely professional and respectful and courteous.

She only had a few drinks several hours ago according to her, well then the officer offered a Bac test, which was refused. She went to court and got off. What a joke. the lawyer probably paid the judge off.

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@ken green

Its actually you buddy, you contradict yourself… And asecular

If I were cited for assumption of DUI , and headlights were the only factor, I too would fight tooth and nail against a DUI. -

If your driving without headlights at night, expect to be pulled over, if you happen to have alcohol on your breath, expect to be examined further. you say you don’t drink and drive? Why are you so worried about the drunk driver fighting to get out of this?

25

@asecular…I believe the defense is also a case. Look it up.

26

Actually, there was a well publicized case not long ago where a driver did blow 0.0 and he was still arrested and taken in for processing. Stupid cop saw his eyes were red, and concluded he was drunk though he blew 0.0. Drunk processor in jail said he should not have been arrested. he is suing for a large amount of money. He may not get a large amount of money but he almost certainly will get money at some level. He had various joint problems and had been swimming in chlorinated water. and during the arrest his position was extremely painful on those bad joints, and they told him to be quiet and take it. He had hip replacement surgery a few days later.

27

@irlandes

Actually, there was a well publicized case not long ago where a driver did blow 0.0 and he was still arrested and taken in for processing. Stupid cop saw his eyes were red, and concluded he was drunk though he blew 0.0. Drunk processor in jail said he should not have been arrested. he is suing for a large amount of money. He may not get a large amount of money but he almost certainly will get money at some level. He had various joint problems and had been swimming in chlorinated water. and during the arrest his position was extremely painful on those bad joints, and they told him to be quiet and take it. He had hip replacement surgery a few days later.

Would you say that that is a rare exception of police stupidity? Is there more to the story? Was he smoking pot for those pain problems? Was he on pain killers?
Rememer, you dont have to be intoxicated on alcohol, theres pot and pain killers and other things people abuse. I have seen wrecks where people were taking pain pills that were prescribed to them, but they chose to drive and avoid the warnings on the bottle and ended up having a wreck.

We need more info, to judge. I suspect there more to the story. I wont even take benedryl and drive, it affects me enough I feel im not 100% to drive after taking it.

28

I would say it was one of many examples today of police stupidity. Tasering 85 year old women who die as a result. Drug raid on the wrong house and killing a little kid who panicked when they kicked in the door. Stopping out of state cars with no probable cause, in hopes of finding something and taking the car. (This has happened to me twice.)

In your case, since it is unlikely you have read the article, it is probable you are simply playing devil’s advocate with no basis for your remarks. He will get to present his case in court.

29

Near as I can tell from the Volvo manual it’s possible the headlamps could have been inoperative based on a number of things. That would be if the car has DRLs on it, the tiny concealed screw near the light switch is set to a certain position with a screwdriver, and the light switch itself is in a certain position.
A police cruiser camera should surely have caught this if the case. If the lights were really off then the defendant is up the proverbial creek without a paddle in my opinion.

A car under a Recall for a lighting problem may never suffer a problem if the Recall has never been performed though. In fact, most cars under Recalls for various problems do not suffer the problems they’re being recalled for. It’s often a preventative measure more than anything else.

As to lying or stupid law enforcement officers, there’s certainly an abundance of them around here.
The 2 cops who arrested a guy here for pubic intoxication after being called out to find the gentleman staggering around in a convenience store and running into things. The guy was jailed and in a check later was found to be near comatose. They barely got him to the hospital on time.
It was determined later the guy was a diabetic, having a bad low sugar spell, and had gone into the store in a hurried attempt to get a candy bar so as to prevent passing out.

One of many examples and there’s worse. The cop who “thought” he saw a snake and randomly shot off a few rounds is another. One of the bullets struck and killed a 6 year old boy who had just sat down with his grandfather on a boat dock to do a little fishing.
OT and irrelevant to this case I suppose, but having a badge and authority does not guarantee an honorable code of ethics…

30

@asecular

Ladies and Gentleman, This is what im talking about.

So your saying that the woman should not have been arrested?

Should the woman not have been punished?

Do you like to knock some back and then get behind the wheel??

31
Your wrists must be supertough.

Apparently they are, because I am responsible for my actions, you must not be, you talk like you are the type of person to always look for an excuse instead of taking responsibility.

Thats what wrong with America today folks.

32

What does the footage from the dashcam of the police vehicle show? Were the lights on or not? Sounds like a pretty definitive answer.

33

Rick, you still don’t understand.
it’s the DUI charge…THE DUI CHARGE…that I would absolutely refuse to allow to remain on my record…EVER !!
Cite me for careless driving and I’m good .
DUI ??
NEVER.
Us non and never drinkers can easily fall prey to ‘’ the system’’ if we were merely to accept the charge because we were in fact doing SOMETHING wrong when pulled over.
— a DUI on my record would be carreer suicide —

YOU, mister, can go ahead and accept a wrongful DUI charge instead of a truthful charge…
but not me.

34

Why would a police officer lie unless the case was personal, i.e someone (s)he knew and had a personal grudge against? If the police officer gets caught in a lie, it wrecks their career. Its simply a case of nothing to gain and everything to lose.

And why would a judge accept a penny ante bribe? The risk/reward ratio just isn’t there. Maybe a really stupid judge might, but most judges don’t get in their position by being stupid.

Police officers and judges may make a mistake now and then. For example the police officer saw a car at 3 am driving without its headlights on, but by the time he got turned around and caught up with the car, maybe he got the wrong car. A judge might play golf with a lawyer and as a result, they are friends and therefore inclined to give that lawyers clients a little more benefit of the doubt than they should get, but accept a bribe, I don’t think so.

35

For heavens sake, who wants a drunk driver on the road? But of course the definition has gone to .08 and if the feds have their way to .05. That means a glass of wine to a small person and you’re in trouble. Now what other factors are there for being impaired? 5 hours sleep, headache, a lot on your mind, and so on? At some point we need to be reasonable in determining what is reckless abandon.

Police look for cars without the lights on as a key factor in people impaired. On the other hand if you have auto lights, and you have electronic dash lights, you very seldon think about checking whether they are on or not, and in the city with street lights, can be hard to tell if they are on or not. So if they were shut off and you are in town, it may be hard to tell for a while.

Now are you going to try and say that using headlights as an excuse for probable cause never happens? If they want to stop someone bad enough and can’t find any other reason, it certainly is not beyond the realm of possibility. And once charged, you’re talking $10-20,000 of costs before its all done in Minnesota. Lawyer, insurance costs, court costs, and on and on. Not something to take lying down, especially if you are innocent.

36

Headlights or no headlights, I’m assuming the driver did indeed have BAC over the legal limit . . .

As others have said, do we want to give that guy a pass because of a possible technicality?

37

JMHO, but the guy should be given a pass if there was some question about how legal the stop was. The other option is open season on all motorists who can be stopped even on an officer’s whim.

It’s often stated by law enforcement that they don’t have quotas. Just a few months ago here in OK a high ranking person in the state patrol admitted they’ve been using quotas.
The number of tickets written and DUI/DWI arrests in a certain time frame are entered into the trooper’s “performance file” and his job reviews, along with pay and promotions, can be based on that.

Even some state troopers who were apparently unaware of the policy were a bit miffed over this as it reflects badly upon them.
Last day of the period, the performance file is a bit skimpy, and an aggressive trooper may start looking to fill in the blanks…

Keith made a statement about why would a cop lie. Cops lie all of the time or fudge the truth to benefit themselves or the department/city as the case may be.
The news reports show that on a regular basis and I can cite countless examples just from this area.

38

@bing

The BAC limit is already .04 for CDL drivers, it should be .04 for everyone else, look at other countries limits.

I find it really hard to believe that you would get pulled over and get a dui if you werent above the limit. If your below the limit, take the breathalizer, that simple.

39

@ken green

What I dont understand is why are you so afraid of getting a dui if you don’t drink and drive. Your not making sense. A Dui would ruin my career as well, A 6 figure career, yes this idiot made 6 figures last year. Thats why if I did drink, I would not drink and drive, plus its stupid, you should be 100% when behind the wheel.

I still maintain that the people who adamantly defend the dui drivers and act like if you get pulled over at 1 am you will get a dui no matter what, are the same people who themselves drink then drive.

I have been pulled over probably 20 times in 27 years, by state,county,city and DOT. I have never, ever, ever been accused of DUI because I never once had alcohol on my breath. I never once in my life ever had so much as a sip of alcohol and then drove.

I was only asked one time if I had been drinking, and it was at 4am, and I got pulled over on my way into work, I had a brake light out. I told the officer no, I answered a few questions, once he could tell that he smelled no alcohol on me he let me go. That simple.

No one has answered me yet…

Bing,Ken green, asecular, ok4450, I ask again do you tip a few then drive? If you don’t why are you so worried about getting a dui? Why would you get a dui if you blow 0.0? Do you use drugs? What are you all so worried about? Im calling you out.

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@asecular

I am sorry that I offended you. I feel that you are saying illogical things. Someone that had a wreck under the influence should be punished and she was not.

Lets all go drink a 6 pack and get on the road, crash, get arrested, whine about it to a lawyer, and get off without any accountability.

Or… lets kill somebody, and get 2 years in prison, Afterall, Its not MY fault… I didn’t mean to do it… Im sorry… Now let me go free… Is this the way you feel? if so why?