I’m going discuss a very common scenario for criminal lawyers in general and particular impaired driving layer. So, you will we will get a phone call in the middle of a night from the police station. A client has been charged with impaired driving and the police have brought them back to the police station and they’re about to do, they want to make it they’ve made a breath demand for the Intoxilyzer or they suspect or have reasonable grounds that they’re under the influence of drugs. So they’re about they’ve done a drug recognition evaluation demand, which is series of tests, coordination test, taking blood pressure, all sorts of 12 step process that a trained drug recognition expert is doing and possibly also taking a urine sample from them. So what can we say, let’s take the alcohol situation, so I get on the phone, I’ll the police officer, so what are you charging with? We’re about to take a breath sample test. I’ll get on the phone client, I don’t waste a lot of time there’s no yourself getting into all the facts, they need to know certain information. They’ve exercised the right to counsel. Which is important right. I go over that in another video. You really need to phone a lawyer in this situation because you need to know what to do. So first and foremost, I say look, you’ve been charged with impaired driving , I know that, and this takes a few minutes, you’ve got to really, I’ll make it simple and clean here for the purpose of the video. Number one, you have to provide breath samples. They’ve made a demand is required to the law it’s a criminal offence not to and do provide If you refuse, you’re going to be provided a charge with offence that has at least the same penalties as the as the impaired driving or blowing over. Okay, so do that. And you know what you may blow under which would be fantastic. You might not get charged obviously. Right? That’s the first piece of advice. Equally important. I don’t want the client answering any questions, any questions the police asked I don’t want them answering between the two breast samples the police will typically take up this checklist of questions. And it’s a disaster answering those questions. You just say no, I’m not answering them. You also talk as little as possible, you don’t, I don’t want to engage in any social chitchat with the police for whatever reason, like just shut up and tell him you know, nothing. You don’t need to say anything. Just say sorry, just sit there say nothing provide the breath sample. So why should you not engage in benign social chitchat? Well, I’ll give you a very good reason and this is very clear. The police are examining you at all times you’re on a video. The minute you slur or second you slur for example, it’s evidence against you so just a little bit of social chitchat and you’re going to mess up maybe at one point is going to be a slur or the police are going to perceive your swearing and say you’re sorry, so just exercise your right to remain silent is the bottom line. So that’s, that’s my quick advice for an impaired case involving alcohol and drug, you have to you’d have to do the drug recognition evaluation test. And the same advice on that if you’re looking for that. You shut up and say nothing other than that and don’t engage in a social chitchat. If you don’t really have a record for impaired unless you have a serious record for impaired, they’re going to release you after that. Maybe not right away. They’re going to like depending on what you’re reading in the stand before we left for how many hours, they’re going to hold you in custody. They go by this chart they have so just as an example, if you have a reading of, I don’t know, 100 milligrams of alcohol which is 20 over the legal limit, they might release you in four or five hours as an example, if the readings are higher, they might wait longer so they want to they want to release you at the point they think you’re reasonably sober. They don’t want to release the public unless but the bottom line, if they’ve made demands, you’ve got to comply with them, whether it’s a drug recognition, evaluation, demand or breath sample demand, and you need to keep quiet not see anything. You don’t need to engage in social chitchat. So that’s the five or 10 minute conversation I have with a client who phones me in the middle of the night asking advice for an impaired alcohol or impaired by drugs.
