A woman in Walker County, Georgia, was pulled over by the Georgia State Patrol. She was eventually arrested for a DUI, but she did refuse a breath test, offering some interesting insight into why this may be done.
According to reports, officers said she wasn’t able to maintain her lane, she ran a stop sign and she was speeding. That’s what tipped them off and prompted the initial traffic stop.
When they got up to the car, they determined that the former Chickamauga City teacher may have been under the influence of alcohol. They asked her if she would take a breath test, and she turned them down. They arrested her anyway and brought her over to the Walker County Jail.
The woman has not offered too many details in the time since the arrest, but she did say that she’d cooperated with the officers the entire time. She then admitted to declining the breath test, citing concerns about reliability. She claimed to have a “knowledge of how reliable or unreliable they may be at times.”
Police said that they would put out their own report.
As this story shows, declining to take a breath test does not mean that an arrest won’t be made. Officers may still have the right to do so based on other observations.
That said, breath test results are often used in court. In this case, the woman was worried that an unreliable test may not provide accurate evidence for her case. She does have the right to turn it down under Georgia law.
If you’re ever pulled over by the police, make sure you know all of your rights. It’s important for everyone to get a fair trial with reliable evidence.
Source: News Channel 9, “Tonya Craft arrested for DUI over the weekend,” Oct. 17, 2017