dui charge
My son was in an accident the other night. When he called me he was so shook up from the air bag impact I thought he said he hit a deer, my mother and i went and picked him up and took the car home. When we go the car home we noticed we did not see and deer hair so we went back to the place where it happened and there was a mailbox knocked down plus some other damage, we decided to call the state highway to report it so that the people could get their damage repaired, when the trooper arrived we had a hard time getting my son awake, this is not unusual, but due to some head trauma I was also concerned, they got him awake and he was ok, but they charged him with failure to control, which we don't dispute, and a dui. The evidence for the dui is that he thought he could smell alcohol on his breath? there were no beer cans in the car, or at the scene, no breathalizer test given, and myself and my mother did not smell anything on him, is it legal to charge him with a dui 4 hours after a accident with no evidence other than u think u smell something on his breath?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: dui charge
What the police did is legal. It would be in your son's best interest to not cooperate with the police, not discuss this incident, and find an attorney.
Re: dui charge
The direct answer to your question is that yes, it is legal to file the charge based on the odor of alcohol. The problem that the prosecutor will have is that a mere odor of alcohol, without more, is not enough to convict.
Did your son give a statement to the police officer? Did he admit to drinking before the accident? Was any sort of chemical testing done (breath test, blood test, urine test). These would be important questions to answer.
DUI has become a very serious offense, even though it is still only a misdemeanor (for first offenses) in Ohio. I would recommend that your son contact an experienced defense attorney. I would also recommend that, other than his lawyer, your son not talk with anyone -- not even you -- about the facts of this accident. Certainly, he should not talk to the police.
Best of luck in resolving this case.
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