Houston Field Sobriety Test Attorney

Testing for Suspicion of DWI

If a police officer suspects you are driving while intoxicated, you can be pulled over and asked to take a series of tests called "field sobriety tests". Based on these tests, you may be arrested for DWI. There are several "standard" tests that are given by police officers. These are:

• Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus (HGN) is an involuntary jerking of the eye as one looks to the side. When an individual is impaired by alcohol this action is magnified. Officers commonly use a penlight to perform this test.
• Walk and Turn (WAT) is a test that asks a person take nine steps in a straight line, heel to toe. After the person walks the nine steps they are asked to go back in the same manner, in the opposite direction.
• One-Leg Stand (OLS) is a test in which an individual is asked to stand with one foot approximately 6 inches off of the ground, while counting aloud by thousands. This is done until the person is told to stop.

At Stradley, Chernoff & Alford, we want you to know that these tests are not fool proof and leave great room for error. If you are arrested for DWI you may have to face expensive fines, possible jail time, increased insurance costs, suspension or loss of your driver's license and a permanent criminal record. It is likely that you will need the assistance of an experienced Houston DWI lawyer to fight these charges.

Field Sobriety Tests Flaws

The WAT and OLS tests depend on an individual's ability to listen, carry out instructions and do various physical actions. Many people have trouble doing the required actions in a perfectly sober state. No matter how well you performed, if the police felt you didn't follow their instructions properly, you may be arrested.

When the HGN test is done, the officer attempts to interpret whether the eyes jerked or not in an improper fashion. As opposed to the other field sobriety tests, this test is not videotaped. No one will ever see what the officer looked at when he flashed the light in your eyes. The best way to defend a DWI case is to aggressively attack the opinion that the person was intoxicated in the first place.

Contact a Houston DWI attorney when you have been charged with DWI based on field sobriety tests.