Key Takeaway
Rare DWI refusal case where driver kept license despite refusing breathalyzer test - field sobriety video contradicted officer's impairment observations in NY court
Matter of Matter of Fermin-Perea v Swarts, 2012 NY Slip Op 03514 (1st Dept. 2012)
If you ever had the opportunity to fight a refusal hearing at DMV, you probably know how difficult it is to prevail. This case is just unbelievable, but having defended DWI cases, it is a great tool to have in your arsenal if you can somehow grab a fact pattern like this:
“The arresting officer’s refusal report, admitted in evidence at the hearing, indicates that upon stopping petitioner because he was speeding, following too closely, and changing lanes without signaling, the officer observed that petitioner was unsteady on his feet, had bloodshot eyes, slurred speech and “a strong odor of alcoholic beverage on breath.” However, the field sobriety test, administered approximately 25 minutes later, a video of which was admitted in evidence at the hearing, establishes that petitioner was not impaired or intoxicated. Specifically, the video demonstrates that over the course of four minutes, petitioner was subjected to standardized field sobriety testing and at all times clearly communicated with the [*2]arresting officer, never slurred his speech, never demonstrated an inability to comprehend what he was being asked, and followed all of the officer’s commands. Petitioner successfully completed the three tests he was asked to perform; thus never exhibiting any signs of impairment or intoxication.
Certainly, the contents of the arresting officer’s refusal report, standing alone, establish reasonable grounds for the arrest under the Vehicle and Traffic Law (Matter of Nolan v Adduci, 166 AD2d 277, 278 , appeal dismissed 77 NY2d 988 ). However, where, as here, a field sobriety test conducted less than 30 minutes after the officer’s initial observations, convincingly establishes that petitioner was not impaired or intoxicated, respondent’s determination that there existed reasonable grounds to believe that petitioner was intoxicated has no rational basis and is not inferable from the record (Matter of American Tel. & Tel. Co. v State Tax Commn., 61 NY2d 393, 400 [“If the agency’s determination is not supported by substantial evidence or it constitutes a clearly erroneous interpretation of the law or the facts, it will be annulled”]). A field sobriety test is “accepted within the scientific community as a reliable indicator of intoxication” (People v Hammond, 35 AD3d 905, 907 , lv denied 8 NY3d 946 ). Here, the field sobriety test, conducted shortly after petitioner was operating his motor vehicle, which failed to establish that petitioner was intoxicated or otherwise impaired, leads us to conclude that respondent’s determination is not supported by substantial evidence.”
