Need advice about DUI...

What is the name of your state? Indiana.


I got word about two days ago about my brother being pulled over for DUI. The story my father told me was that my brother was at a friends house with a bunch of others and according to what my brother says had three beers. Anyways as he was driving home he was speeding a bit and a cop pulled him over and when he did smelled the alcohol on him and at which time was arrested for DUI.

This is the story I am told, but it doesn't make sense to me - doesn't the person have to fail a field sobriety test before they are hauled off to jail? Or can a police office arrest you just for the smell of it on you?

My next questions regard the future - being that this is his first being charged for DUI what kind of punishment would he be looking at and what can he do to lessen the charges? The last time I talked to him he was studing for this CDL license trying to get a better job for a baby on the way - I'm thinking this is pretty much out of question is it not?

Any help or advice on this would be very helpful!

Thanks,

-Michael

[CdwJava]

You are right, an arrest for DUI takes more than just the odor of alcohol. There may be field sobriety tests, there may be aportable alcohol sensor test (a portable breath machine), he even may have been too drunk to perform the tests so they didn't perform them. But, there has to be something besides the odor.

As for the punishment, I am not familiar with the ramifications in IN. Though I would suspect that the punishment includes an extensive fine, perhaps a license restriction, and possibly alcohol classes.

- Carl

[Happy Trails]

Originally Posted by WoodiE55

What is the name of your state? Indiana.


I got word about two days ago about my brother being pulled over for DUI. The story my father told me was that my brother was at a friends house with a bunch of others and according to what my brother says had three beers. Anyways as he was driving home he was speeding a bit and a cop pulled him over and when he did smelled the alcohol on him and at which time was arrested for DUI.

This is the story I am told, but it doesn't make sense to me - doesn't the person have to fail a field sobriety test before they are hauled off to jail? Or can a police office arrest you just for the smell of it on you?

My next questions regard the future - being that this is his first being charged for DUI what kind of punishment would he be looking at and what can he do to lessen the charges? The last time I talked to him he was studing for this CDL license trying to get a better job for a baby on the way - I'm thinking this is pretty much out of question is it not?

Any help or advice on this would be very helpful!

Thanks,

-Michael

This link looked very informative: [url]http://www.pendletonpd.org/indiana_dui_laws.htm[/url]

I'm in Virginia.

I got my first DUI charge a few months ago. I'm not sure how the penalties differ from your state to VA but this is what I got:

*30 days in jail suspended
*Court ordered VASAP class ($350)
*$166 court fines
*$250 fine
*Year restricted license (It was suspended but my boss wrote a letter to the judge to get mine restricted)
*I had to pay DMV $150 to get a restricted license