New Jersey DWI Lawyer Blog

We’ve discussed in prior postings the factors that lead to, and possibly precipitate, a drunken driving traffic stop. In actuality, the phrase DWI police stop is somewhat of a misnomer since a patrolman cannot, by law, base a traffic stop solely on a hunch or assumption that a motorist is intoxicated by alcohol or impaired by prescription drugs or some other controlled dangerous substance (CDS). On the contrary, an officer must have a valid and articulable reason — such as a moving violation or vehicle-related infraction — in order to legitimately pull a driver over. That aside, however, a traffic stop that develops into a DWI arrest involves a number of steps before drunk driving charges are pressed against a driver.

As experienced New Jersey trial attorneys with in-depth knowledge of drunk driving and drug DUI case law, our training and courtroom skill allow us to represent many individuals who have been accused of operating a motor vehicle while under the influence. As DWI lawyers, we often explain to potential clients that it is important to understand the basic factors that make up a good prosecutorial case for DWI or drug DUI; because, when it comes to arresting and charging a driver for intoxicated driving, the evidence collected at the time of the offense can make or break the state’s case.

Whether or not a DWI-DUI arrest is viewed by a judge as having been carried out properly depends on the totality of facts presented by the state when pursuing a conviction following a drunk driving stop and arrest. First and foremost, there needs to be actual evidence of inebriation or impairment, regardless of the type of charge, be it a DWI based on alcohol consumption, or a drug DUI due use of prescription medications, smoking of marijuana, or use of some other illegal substance. The degree of intoxication must also have been sufficient for the court to conclude that the driver was impaired to the point of being unable to safely operate his or her vehicle.
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It has been fairly well established that a patrolman’s actions when stopping a motorist on the highway are within the definitions laid out in the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which pertain to the meaning of “seizure.” Keeping this in mind, it is interesting that for quite some time there was more than a modicum of doubt as to what constituted a valid police stop, much less one that leads to the arrest and incarceration of an individual.

Any doubts regarding what was proper or legal seizure by the police during motor vehicle stops were essentially quelled following the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision known as Delaware v. Prouse. In a nutshell, the majority held that police officers must, at the very least, have an articulable and reasonable suspicion that a motorist has violated some portion of a state’s traffic law or motor vehicle statutes. In addition to the frequently used “inability to maintain the lane” or “driving with a non-functioning brake light,” other justifications may include a suspicion that the motorist is not properly licensed or that the vehicle’s registration is expired.

Whatever the original reason for effecting a police stop, the state trooper or municipal cop must continue to meet the standards set by New Jersey legal statutes and other case law when conducting the stop. Time is an important consideration; this is because the law requires a patrolman to conduct the business of a routine traffic stop — whether or not it eventually leads to an eventual DWI arrest or drug DUI summons — in a reasonable amount of time. Though certainly not hard and fast, the time taken should not usually exceed that needed to obtain the motorist’s operator’s license and vehicle insurance credentials and to check those against the police department’s database of prior traffic offenses or other violations of the law.
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