Police have sometimes been known to pull people over for driving too slow, or driving well below the posted speed limit, and subsequently gaining enough information to charge that driver with Driving Under the Influence of Alcohol (DUI) or Driving While Intoxicated (DWI).
Many people would think that driving slow and cautiously would be a good thing, but this was not the case in the People v. Rotkvich, 195 Ill.Dec. 424, 628 N.E. 2d 888 (1 Dist. 1993). In Mr. Rotkvich’s case, his cautious and slow driving led to a DUI arrest. The police officer in that case could not point to any specific violation of the traffic laws so decided to pull the driver over for driving too slow. After the stop, the officer gathered enough evidence to make an arrest.
Thankfully for the driver, the Appellate Court found that slow driving by itself is not illegal, especially in the absence of a posted speed limit. The court found that the officer’s decision to make the stop of the driver’s vehicle was without proper or “probable” cause. The driver was not impeding traffic and there was not a minimum posted speed limit. The officer could not point to any statute in the law books or the vehicle code that demonstrated the driver was breaking the law.
The DUI was dismissed before it ever got to a jury trial because of protections afforded by the Constitution.
If you or someone you know gets charged with a DUI or a DWI, the first question that should be asked by a good and competent attorney is did the officer have “probable cause”, or a good reason, to make the stop in the first place. A serious charge like DUI or DWI must begin with a proper stop, and, sometimes as we’ve seen in Mr. Rotkvich’s situation, police officers don’t always have valid reasons. For further information, please visit your Christian County DUI Attorney or your Local DUI Attorney.
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