DUI and Drugs

Driving under the influence occurs when a person operates or is in actual physical control of a motor vehicle or similar device while that person is under the influence of alcohol and/or other intoxicating agents such that his or her faculties are impaired, according to Fort Lauderdale criminal attorney William Moore Criminal Defense. In Florida and every other United States Jurisdiction, a driver is presumed to be impaired from alcohol if his or her blood or breath alcohol concentration exceeds a reading of 0.08 percent, where the breath reading represents total blood concentration. This is called the DUI per se statute, meaning that a person is automatically treated as impaired with a BAC at or in excess of 0.08 percent.

Broward DUI attorney William Moore says that many clients come to him shocked that they have been arrested and charged with DUI when they were comfortably under the 0.08 BAC threshold that most Floridians assume they must meet in order to be charged with a crime. They are frequently surprised, then, to discover that they have been placed under arrest for DUI with a breathalyzer reading of 0.05 percent, 0.06 percent, or similar. These cases are surprisingly common, says Fort Lauderdale criminal defense lawyer William Moore Criminal Defense.

A driver can be arrested for DUI when his or her breath test reading shows a BAC under 0.08 percent if the law enforcement officer believes there is sufficient evidence to establish that the driver is impaired, even where the breath test yields relatively low results. The law enforcement official may ask the driver to submit to roadside field sobriety tests in order to gauge motor skills or other signs of impairment, says Fort Lauderdale DUI Lawyer William Moore.

If the police officer thinks that the driver seems impaired beyond the level of alcohol found in his or her system – such as a person who blows a 0.035 percent from the breath test but is stumbling over himself – the officer will likely request a blood or urine sample. Under certain circumstances, the law enforcement agency may actually force a blood draw, such as a DUI manslaughter case. By law, a person is required to provide breath, blood, and/or urine samp http://www.wmdui.com/lawyer-attorney-1346857.htmlles when appropriate to determine if he or she is intoxicated. The additional testing may be conducted to determine if there are additional factors other than alcohol, such as Xanax, Ambien, cocaine, or other prescription or illegal drugs that may have caused additional impairment other than or in conjunction with the alcohol.