“Not one of my better Field Sobriety Days”

Thus spoke the police officer at an MVA Hearing last week.  I will have the tape of this admission for the jury trial in Baltimore City.  He condensed the HGN exam, because he sometimes does that. He admitted he was not supposed to.  Wrong instructions on the Walk and Turn.  The best explanation was for the 1 leg stand where he pointed his toe skyward (instead of parallel to the ground), but said to hold it straight out.  My client watched him and held his foot the same way- the WRONG WAY.  He claimed he had to demonstrate it incorrectly because he was so close to my client that it was for officer safety because he could have been attacked.  This was after he searched him, and had 2 other officers standing there watching, and who could have provided “officer safety.”  My client is 1/2 of his size.  He also screwed up the breath test procedure.  I LOST the MVA Hearing because the ALJ said none of it mattered, even though the breath test results were compromised.  However, these matter in Court.  I was going to hire an SFSTs’ expert for trial, but with the officer’s “confession” there is no need to waste the client’s limited resources.  My client’s driver was in the hallway, and when the officer left the hearing room, he and the breath technician were talking about that F…ing, etc….  I was glad to hear that they appreciated my legal work.  The breath technician and his involvement in a previous dismissed case is a story for another day.