Check Points and Road Blocks for Virginia DUI / DWI
If you were arrested for Virginia DUI / DWI at a check point or road block, we need to talk. These stops are regulated closely, and we may have a defense to the charge.
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Hello, my name is Andrew Flusche. I’m a Virginia traffic attorney, and today I wanted to talk to you about DWI and DUI checkpoints or roadblocks. The police have to have a legal reason to pull you over to investigate for a DUI or a DWI. One way that they do this is with checkpoints or roadblocks. The counties around Fredericksburg, Stafford, and Spotsylvania do utilize these techniques.
It’s important to know if you have a defense in this area, because that could be one fruitful area to analyze in your DUI or DWI case. If the stop itself is illegal, unjustified, and against the law, then everything that the police get from the stop is thrown out of court. So in a DUI or DWI case, if the stop is illegal, we essentially can win the case, and that’s pretty much all there is to it. It’s a very fruitful area for us to analyze, if there’s any question about the stop and how it went down.
If you were stopped at a checkpoint or a roadblock for your DUI or DWI, we definitely need to talk about it. Checkpoints and roadblocks are very strictly controlled about how they’re performed, and there is a very strict set of rules about how they have to be done. Essentially, the entire plan for the checkpoint or roadblock has to be set out in writing before the operation is undertaken. Then the officers have to follow the plan while they’re on scene doing the checkpoint or roadblock. The whole point of this is to remove discretion from the individual officers. They’re not allowed to have discretion about what vehicles they’re examining when they’re actually running the checkpoint or roadblock.
It’s really important for us to look at all those pieces; to look at the actual written plan and to make sure that the written plan was followed. If a piece is missing, or the plan wasn’t followed, or something isn’t in the plan, then that could be grounds to have the checkpoint or roadblock declared essentially unconstitutional, rendering your stop illegal, which could help us win your DUI or DWI case. So if this applies to you or you have any questions about why you were stopped, give me a call for a free consult and we’ll talk about it.