are you legally obligated to remove your glasses and submit to an "eye test" when pulled over by police?

Question

when you are stopped by police are you legally obligated to take an eye test? (when they shine their flashlight in your eyes and look for possible involuntary drug induced motions) or can you as with field sobriety test and breathalyzer at the scene, you can quote your 4th amendment rights and deny their attempt at illegal search and seizure...i'm very interested...please respond with factual information and sources to back it up.

Answer 1

No, you are not legally obligated. However, refusal to to field sobriety is considered evidence of intoxication in all states I am familiar with. Do a search of your state and "implied consent" for specific references.



The text of the Fourth Amendment includes the phrase "but upon probable cause". This means if the officer can articulate a legitimate reason to request field sobriety, you are not protected by the Fourth Amendment.

Answer 2

First, no, you are not obligated to perform field sobriety tests. The police will not physically force somebody to comply. Sometimes people refuse to perform such tests, and the police just use this refusal against them at trial.



Second, there is no 4th amendment violation. Field sobriety tests are not considered to be a search or seizure. If your car is stopped, this is considered a Terry stop, but there is no fourth amendment violation for requesting you to perform sobriety tests.



Most people do not understand the breadth and application of either the 4th or 5th amendment. If not, then doing research is the best thing. Being informed about your rights can help you ensure that they are not violated.



But remember, while you can refuse to remove your glasses and refuse the horizontal gaze nystagmus (HGN) test, this will be used against you if you are charged with a DWI. Just like if someone refuses a breath test, they tell the jury that the reason the person refused is because he was guilty.

Answer 3

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Answer 4

If the Officers have reasonable belief that you are driving under the influence they may ask you to take field sobriety tests. It is not a violation of the 4th Amendment to do this. Also, read up on Implied Consent Rights, when you get your drivers license you are consenting to the State to submit to a chemical analysis of your blood,breath, or urine for use to determine if you are DWI. If you don't like that idea then don't drive anymore.



You may refuse any SFST in my State but your refusal may be used to help the Officer determine to arrest you or not. Also, in my State if you refuse to take a breath test we may now get a search warrant and draw your blood. It is not a violation of your rights in anyway shape or form to gather obvious evidence of a crime.

Answer 5

This is called the horizontal gaze nystagmus test. It has nothing to do with how well or bad your vision is. When a person is under the influence, they eyes have a "bounce" when looking all the way to the left or right. The more drunk or high a person is the more "bounce" you get. There is no reason for you to have your glasses on. It is no different than using other measures to determine how drunk a person is breath odor, walk and turn, finger to nose, etc. You can certainly refuse these tests and you will most likely find yourself being arrested. The main reason for this is liability, if they let you go and you crash. They get blamed

Answer 6

Here is how it works..If you are stopped by the police and they ask you (consent) to perform any type of field sobriety test you are not legally required to do so. They are asking your consent and you can say no.



If a police officer stops you and sees signs of impairment from drugs or alcohol (poor driving, odor of drugs or alcohol, tweaking, pupil size, slurred speech, etc.) then they can ask you to perform the field sobriety tests.



If you refuse to do so, then the police officer must make a decision. If they have probable cause (PC) to believe you are driving under the influence of an intoxicant they can arrest you without doing any tests. Now, if they tell you that you are "under arrest" you must comply with their order to exit the car, or else they will remove you :) It's much better to be cooperative, even if you refuse to do tests.



After you are under arrest you will be requested to submit to a breath/blood/urine test or a combination under the state's implied consent law. Generally if you refuse to submit to these tests you can be cited for refusal to submit to the tests and your license is suspended for a substantially longer time than if you submit to the test and fail. It is also prima facia evidence that can be used against you if you refuse to submit to the tests.



If you're going to refuse the field sobriety tests, most defense attorneys will tell you to submit to the breath tests.

Answer 7

Your not obliged to do anything. But with "probable cause" they can blow your brains out in cold blood while you get your wallet and just get suspended with pay.



The cops can't really do anything without "probable cause" but they will invoke it. If they ask to see ID you can refuse them as you are not legally obliged to show them. They also cannot search your car without "probable cuase". See where I'm getting too. So if they suspect you have been drinking they can ask you to take a feild sobreity test. You can refuse but you'll get your license revoked for X months.



Problem is with police scum is that if you know the law and they don't your going to jail. Or they'll beat you, but only if there are 2-3 other cops there. Cops always beat civilians in groups.

Answer 8

Why would you be worried about this?



Police stopped us last week and did the flashlight thing. We had nothing to hide.