Police have a lot of tools that seemingly give them an edge when it comes to building a case for alleged driving while impaired. It's not unusual for a person confronted with DWI charges to throw in the towel before putting up a defense, especially if they face field sobriety test results that they think show impairment. A better move is to consult with an attorney experienced in overcoming that kind of evidence.
One significant reason for taking that action is because it may be that the purported evidence isn't quite what police make it out to be. That seems to be an issue surfacing in the drunk driving arrest of teenage singer Justin Bieber. The online celebrity magazine TMZ suggests officers may have "fudged" reports about Bieber's condition.
As headlines around the world blared recently, the 19-year-old Bieber was arrested in Miami on Jan. 23 for alleged DUI, driving on a suspended license and resisting arrest.
TMZ cited police sources in the wake of the arrest as saying that Bieber's breath test blood alcohol reading was 0.04 percent. But the magazine says it has since confirmed that the results came back at 0.01 percent.
Neither of those two readings hits the 0.08-percent threshold for making a charge of legal intoxication. And TMZ says the discrepancies raise other questions about police credibility. Specifically, TMZ notes formal statements by two different officers saying that they detected a strong odor of alcohol on Bieber's breath. TMZ says Bieber representatives are saying police have lied.
How this will all play out in the courts is yet to be seen. Miami's local CBS affiliate cites sources familiar with the investigation as saying that Bieber allegedly had Xanax and marijuana in his system at the time of his arrest. The report says Bieber entered a plea of not guilty to all charges on Wednesday.
Source: TMZ, "Justin Bieber -- Cops May Have Fudged Police Report," Jan. 24, 2014
Source: CBS Miami, "More Trouble For Justin Bieber Week After His South Florida Arrest," Lauren Pastrana, Jan. 29, 2014