There are a number of ways a DUI stop could occur in Pennsylvania. If police observe a vehicle break almost any traffic law they will have a valid reason to stop that vehicle. If a traffic accident occurs between two or more vehicles and police detect the scent of alcohol on a driver, that traffic investigation could turn into a DUI investigation. Or, as was the case in a recent accident, police can investigate when there is a single vehicle crash as well.

According to a recent report, a vehicle was found by police after it had crashed into a telephone pole. The accident occurred on January 30. The police reportedly stated that the woman who was found sitting in the vehicle’s driver’s seat initially said that another person, a male, had been driving the vehicle and fled on foot after the crash. However, the police allegedly detected the scent of alcohol on the 38-year-old woman and decided to conduct some field sobriety tests. Any of our readers who are familiar with field sobriety tests in Philadelphia and surrounding areas know that there are a number of tasks that police can request a driver to complete in these tests.

Philadelphia DUI field tests can consist of the “walk-and-turn” test, the “stand-on-one-leg” test or the test where the driver attempts to follow the tip of a pen with their eyes. Each of these tests is a common occurrence, but each also has a set of procedures which must be followed by the police conducting the tests. Failure to conduct the tests in compliance with those procedures could result in the results being suppressed in a future court proceeding.

For the woman in this one vehicle accident, the police reported that she failed the field sobriety tests. She was not initially charged because the police are waiting for the results of a blood draw.

Source: Plymouth-Whitemarsh Patch, “Drunken Woman Claims She Wasn’t Driving, Cops Say,” Brittany Tressler, Feb. 6, 2013