I work at a tobacco shop. And after they said I blown through a stop sign. When asked when drinking I said no. Then he said I smelled, and I quote, “of something suspicious”. I get cops get their paycheck for tickets and such but seriously has it really gotten this bad that for a ticket they try to make it something bigger? and ignoring my rights?
It may not always be so simple. In my state (Georgia) there is “implied consent” (yes, disgusting term) to breathalyzers and refusing one gets your license suspended for a year.This is after arrest actually, so it might be different.In some states if you refuse a field sobriety test before they arrest you, you could lose your driver’s license, potentially.
But once they’ve arrested you, I don’t know of any state that would require the field sobriety test. Some states would require a regular test which would be done at the station or the hospital. Field sobriety tests are not reliable, so the cops are going to want to do a proper test that is more reliable. But whether these latter tests are required depends on the situation. And it’s possible that the cops will get a court order requiring you to take one anyway, should you refuse.
In other words, field sobriety tests are designed to establish probable cause so that they can arrest you. But they aren’t designed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you’re DUI.