Improper Stops: Stopping for a Hunch or Just Felt Like It

Rarely will an officer admit this was the reason for a stop. Almost every officer knows this is an illegal stop and any resulting evidence will be excluded. However, once in a while one will admit to making a stop just to be sure nothing was wrong.  In some situations, officers will either detain an individual in the sincere belief that the person has been involved in a domestic dispute or use it as an excuse to detain someone who is not reasonably suspected of criminal wrongdoing.  In either case, dispatch recordings, dispatch logs, and 911 recordings must be checked.  Officers do stop people to "get their side of the story" or because they are in the neighborhood where a fight has just taken place, but unless the officer can connect you with that report of criminal activity, the traffic stop (or detention) was unlawful.

More Winning DUI Defenses in GA

Improper Stops

• Tips or Anonymous Calls
• Mistake of law
• Failure to maintain lane
• Stopping the wrong car
• Stopping a vehicle for a different reason than the officer claims

Improper Arrest

• Improperly Administered Field Sobriety Tests
• Coerced Field Sobriety Tests
• Medical-Physical Conditions
• Illegal Extension of Stop
• Videos Don't Support Arrest Report

Improper Blood Test

• Proper Request
• Statutory Requirements
• Lab Mistakes

Improper Breath Test

• Rules
• Certification
• Certification of Machine
• Interferents
• Machine Not Calibrated
• Machine Malfunction

Procedural Mistakes

• Mirandize/Read Your Rights
• Implied Consent Warning
• Witness Appearance
• Inconsistent Statements by Law Enforcement Officer
• Expert Witness