What is 'probable cause' as it applies to a DUI?

What is 'probable cause' as it applies to a DUI?

Neil Shouse (Defense Attorney) gives expert video advice on: What is 'probable cause' as it applies to a DUI?; Are police DUI checkpoints constitutional?; What is suppression of evidence in a DUI case? and more...

Probable cause as it applies to a DUI is the legitimacy with which the police could pull you over to begin with, or the legitimacy with which they could arrest you, and those are two separate events for which the police must justify their actions. To pull you over to conduct a traffic stop of a motorist, the police have to have a probable cause. That means they have to either observe you commit a traffic violation or they have to have reason to believe that you're driving under the influence based on your driving pattern. The second element of probable cause in a DUI case is probable cause to arrest. Before the police can arrest you, that means put on the handcuffs, take you away to jail, take you to take further breath and blood test, they have to have reasons to believe that, based on the driving pattern and your symptoms of intoxication and your performance on your field sobriety test, that you are under the influence.