Recent DWI Case Demonstrates Police Aren’t Always In The Right

As New York City DWI lawyers one of the most curious things we run into as we try to defend client’s rights are good people who are reluctant to push their cases forward because of the perception that the courts believe the police are always right. They end up accepting plea bargains when they really ought to fight.
There are certainly some instances where we’ll advise clients to take a plea bargain. It’s part of the process, and sometimes it’s good strategy. But the police aren’t always right, and furthermore, though they may be loathe to admit it, the courts know it.
Take the recent case of Oliver Wiggins. The police charged him with a DWI after they hit his car, all because they didn’t want to admit to causing the wreck.
The city just paid Wiggins $1 million because Wiggins doesn’t drink, and was able to prove it.

False DWI arrests happen more often than you might think.

In Chicago, one police officer logged over 130 false DWI arrests. The police officer in question was never prosecuted for this act. He was, in fact, honored for it many times before he was eventually caught.
The current climate encourages officers to be quite overzealous about making DWI arrests.
Police officers who are willing to inflate their own arrest stats by making these false arrests irrevocably change and ruin lives.
Of course, not every false DWI arrest is the result of malfeasance on the part of an over-eager officer. Field sobriety tests are highly subjective. Even breathalyzer tests can be wildly inaccurate. As the National Motorist’s Association notes:
Peer reviewed and uncontested studies (LaBianca, Simpson, Thompson et.al.) prove a margin of error of 50 % when comparing breathalyzer estimates of Blood alcohol content to actual Blood alcohol content! That means a breathalyzer reading of .1 % represents a Blood alcohol content level somewhere between .05 % and .15%, hardly a level of precision on which to base an irrefutable presumption of guilt!
Blood tests are highly accurate, but many DWI cases do not hinge on blood tests.
Unfortunately, New York is an implied consent state, which means you have implied consent to taking a blood, urine, or breath test by virtue of getting behind the wheel of a car. You can bring all sorts of negative consequences down on your head by taking a pass on the highly inaccurate breathalyzer test. However, you do have the right to ask for a more accurate test after taking the test of the officer’s choice.
Click here to learn more about how we attack the breath test in our DWI defense cases.

There are more DWI cases floating around our court system than any other kind of criminal case.

Every year our courts process 200,000 more DWI cases than they do for theft and larceny cases combined. The system is set up to limit the options of the accused. If you’re facing your DWI charge alone you might find yourself entering into a plea bargain just to avoid worse consequences. Unfortunately, a plea bargain will not shield you from the lifelong consequences of getting convicted of a DWI charge.
Don’t try to face your DWI charge alone. If you’ve been accused of drunk driving contact the law offices of Greyco Neyland today. We stand ready to mount a vigorous defense against your false DWI charges.