An interesting question keeps popping up here in the state of FL. Can you legally keep your window rolled up at a DUI checkpoint? An attorney has gained national attention for distributing controversial fliers that drivers can show police during traffic stops and DUI checkpoints, in order to avoid arrest for driving under the influence.
The flier that the lawyer created online, advises drivers who are stopped by police officers, to keep their car windows rolled up and to hold the flier up so it’s visible to the officer. It explains to them how to display their license, registration and insurance to police through the window.
He is advising people to not say “one word” to the police. This of course has pissed off law enforcement officials who point out that the U.S. Supreme Court in 1990 upheld the use of random DUI checkpoints, concluding they don’t violate constitutional protections against unreasonable search and seizure.
This attorney, named Warren Redlich, who is based in Boca Raton, believes that people can only be charged with DUIs after police see them driving erratically, or if they smell alcohol on their breath, or because of slurred speech. But at a DUI checkpoint, how does an officer know the driver truly has been “drinking and driving”?
He has opened up an interesting legal dialogue that should continue for some time. He is preaching that drivers stopped at DUI checkpoints should be silent, patient, and follow his exact instructions. That might be easier said than done.
