by Donna Hicks

Created on: December 17, 2011   Last Updated: December 21, 2011

It may be easy to assume that if you refuse to take a breathalyzer test that you cannot be arrested or charged with driving under the influence. It is important to understand what can happen if you refuse to submit to a breathalyzer test.

Why the breathalyzer is administered

When a police officer pulls you over and asks you to submit to a breathalyzer at that time, it is part of the “field sobriety test” because the officer believes that you may be driving while under the influence of alcohol. You may be asked to perform other tasks such as walking a line, touching one finger to your nose, or perhaps to repeat back to the officer what the officer has said to you. However, the most important aspect of the field sobriety test if you are charged with driving under the influence (DUI) will most likely be the breathalyzer test results once your case goes to court.

Perhaps it is the fact that the breathalyzer test results are admissible in a hearing on your DUI charge that may lead you to invoke your presumed right to refuse the breathalyzer. It is indeed an individual’s right to refuse to submit to the breathalyzer requested by the police officer. However, there are consequences to making that decision.

Consequences of refusing a breathalyzer test

Refusing to take a breathalyzer test can result in serious repercussions. In some states, such as Ohio, you may refuse to take the breathalyzer test when you are stopped on suspicion of driving under the influence. However, as one prominent citizen recently found out, law enforcement officials will pursue determining the amount of alcohol you had to drink prior to getting behind the wheel of your car.

When the former wife of the current mayor of Columbus Ohio was shown on local news channels on Friday, December 16, 2011, being led away from her car with local police officers, she was not being given a ride home. Since she refused to take the breathalyzer, she was being escorted to a local hospital to have her blood drawn to determine the amount of alcohol in her system. So she did exercise her right to refuse to submit to the breathalyzer, but officers pursued the issue by getting the alcohol content in her system by another means after the former wife of Mayor Coleman allegedly sideswiped at least two parked vehicles on a major Columbus street.

In many states, you have the right to refuse to take a breathalyzer test, but the consequences of doing so may be quite harsh. As pointed out in the article “

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>