What Sobriety Tests are Used for Serious Vehicular Crimes in Ohio?

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What sobriety tests are used for serious vehicular crimes in Ohio? I'm Shawn Dominy, I'm a criminal defense lawyer in Ohio, and the focus of my firm is representing clients who are charged with serious vehicular crimes like vehicular homicide and vehicular assault.

When a law enforcement officer is investigating an accident, and the officer has reasonable suspicion to believe one of the drivers may be under the influence, then the officer may administer field sobriety tests. If the officer has a reason to believe the driver may be under the influence of a drug, they may later on have an officer administer a drug recognition evaluation.

So let's talk about field sobriety tests first. Those are typically done at the accident site. There are three tests from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration which have been standardized. The first one is the horizontal gaze nystagmus test. That's the test where you follow the finger, or pen with your eyes, and the officer is looking to see if the eyeball is doing this involuntary jerking. The second test is the walk and turn test. In that test, the officer has the driver take nine steps heel to toe down a line, then take a series of short steps to turn around, and take nine heel to toe steps back down the line. And then the third test is the one leg stand test, which is standing on one leg with your arms down to your sides for 30 seconds.

Those tests are all standardized, but there are some non-standardized tests that officers sometimes use at the accident site as well, such as counting backwards, say 62 to 41, or doing a partial alphabet like D to W.

In addition to those standardized field sobriety tests, as I mentioned, if the officer suspects drugs were involved, then the officer may take the driver to typically a police station for a drug recognition evaluation. That evaluation has to be done by certified drug recognition evaluator. We don't have many of those in Ohio. So typically the arresting officer will have to call in another officer who is certified. The officer has to be certified because this evaluation is a pseudo medical examination where they take vital signs, take your pulse, check your muscle tone, all of those kinds of things. And for that reason, it does take additional training although, in the scientific community, the reliability of that testing procedures is pretty questionable.

If you've been charged with vehicular homicide or vehicular assault, you may be doing some research to learn more about those charges. If so, our website and our YouTube channel have some additional resources for you.

If you finish your research and you'd like to talk to our firm about representation, there are a couple ways you can reach us to schedule a free phone consultation. You can call the number on the screen, or you can submit a contact form on our website. In any event, we hope this video, and those additional resources are helpful.

For more information on issues related to Vehicular Homicide and Vehicular Assault in Ohio, see the videos on the Dominy Law Firm YouTube channel, the written information on the Dominy Law Firm website (https://www.dominylaw.com/), the articles on the Dominy Law Firm blog (https://www.columbusoviattorneyblog.c..., and our books: the Ohio Vehicular Assault Guide, and the Ohio Vehicular Homicide Guide.

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