Legal Question in DUI Law in Pennsylvania

Reasonable suspision

I am from MD and was visiting my parents in PA (Adams county) My brother and i were driving down a dark road around 2:30am and happened upon state police officers engaged with a man on a bicycle. the officers did not have they're emergency lights on, no cones or flares. they had the man doing ''figure eights'' in the road on his bike going across the entire road. i approached cautiously and stopped since the man was in the middle of the road about 30 ft from the scene. one of the officers then approached me and asked for my license and registration and I asked ''for what?'' since i wasn't stopped. the officer then asked if i had been drinking and i said that my brother had been, she then asked me to perform a field test, i became agitated because i hadn't been pulled over at all. This was not a sobriety checkpoint because myself and my brother asked. is this a legit way to arrest someone? any reasonable suspicion?


Asked on 5/12/08, 5:00 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Robert Weber Robert M Weber Attorney at Law

Re: Reasonable suspision

The standard usual protocol in PA is to officially test someone by blood or breath after one did not pass the field sobriety check.

If you were tested and failed you are likely out of luck because the officer will likely testify that he/she could smell it radiating from the car which would be enough.

There are other factors as well.

Was the person on a bike a cop too?

If you hit me up via email with some more details, I will do my best advise you in private.

Good luck

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Answered on 5/12/08, 11:58 pm


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