Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Re: False UI charges

If you were issued a citation then you were given a "ticket" and there is a record of it somewhere. In your situation it simply is not appearing anywhere but that does not mean it is not out there and that it will not show up. Under the circumstances I suggest you hire an attorney to investigate and determine where the citation is possibly lurking. Citations do not generally disappear. If one was written the officer that issued it must account for it and it will probably show up eventually.

Given the facts you provided it is impossible to accurately assess the Officer's actions. You also did not provide what the citation was issued for. Was it simply the out of date tags or was there something related to being under the influence? Some of what you described sounds out of line but some of the facts that you point out are well within the Officer's discretion. If you believe the officer violated your rights than you should consult an attorney and not look for the answer online.

Generally an officer is required to have reasonable suspicion of a violation in order to initiate a vehicle stop. Since your tags were out of date she had reasonable suspicion to make the stop. furthermore out of date tags gives her discretion to tow your vehicle. Some officers will give motorists a break and others will not. Law enforcement officers will often use expired tags to initiate a stop to find other violations such as dui's and In fact many under the influence type charges start by the driver being stopped for out of date tags. It sounds like your tags had been out of date for a while and the officer may have been acting within her discretion by towing your vehicle.

It is impossible to determine if the Officer had reasonable suspicion regarding your demeanor to suspect drug impairment. Officers are trained to look for symptoms of impairment and quite often they suspect someone is under the influence when they are not. Symptoms range from blood shot eyes to slurred speech. Officers will claim they made the determination based on the totality of the symptoms displayed by the driver, performance on the field sobriety tests (FST's) and the way they were driving. The rhomberg test is one of the FST's used by Officers to determine probable cause exists to make an arrest. However, they generally administer at least three or four different FST's in order to make the determination, not just one. Depending on the law enforcement agency involved she may also have been a DRE's or drug recognition expert. The California Highway Patrol has a very large number of DRE officer's and they are considered experts.

You would be best served by having a consultation with an attorney regarding the incident. Then you can explain your specific facts and the attorney can ask you questions which will assist them in determining what if anything may or may not have been proper.

Good luck