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Firefighters, DUI and Video tape

By Bruce M. Robinson, P.A.

We recently resolved a DUI arrest in Howard County against an aggressive State's Attorney who enjoys litigating every case s/he gets their hands on! This firefighter, a State employee who risks his life for the benefit of others was arrested on suspicion of DUI following a simple traffic infraction and field sobriety exercises performed on the street. The charging document had all the normal [magic] language in it (cut and pasted from some other charging document as the gender is wrong half the time in these documents) accusing the firefighter of driving drunk. There was the smell of alcohol, slurred speech and poor coordination on the fields, all the normal stuff that makes the prosecutor gitty as a school child and permits the judge to find the defendant guilty! Fortunately, the arrest was also videotaped so we could see everything that happened in "real time" [Jack Bauer time] We order the video tape in our extensive discovery to see what really happened here because half the time the video and the cut and pasted statement of facts are in stark contrast to what really happened- starting from the gender description and going on from there [you would be surprised how many officers have difficulty telling a man from a woman in their statement of facts]...continue to full post

Full post as published by Maryland DUI Lawyer Blog on May 08, 2010 (boomark / email).