Would You Be Interested in Knowing Your Rights Before Stopped by Seattle Cops?

If you couldn't tell by the title of this blog, I am an Seattle traffic attorney. In other words, helping people like you beat criminal charges, such as DUI, theft, criminal mischief, possession of marijuana, possession of drugs, felonies, misdemeanors, and even Seattle traffic tickets, is my job. But, in doing my job, a lot of things get in the way. Sometimes the evidence gets in the way, sometimes the circumstances get in the way, but a lot of the time my clients get in their own way, and they do it before I even meet them.

Let me give you an example. Let's say there is a guy named Bob. Bob is a nice guy. Works for Microsoft or Boeing, has a wife and two kids, and is a pretty normal guy. Bob decides to join some friends for happy hour one day in Redmond after a hard day of work. He has two or three beers and decides its time to go home and play with the kids. On the way home Bob speeds and is pulled over by a Redmond police officer. The officer smells alcohol on Bob's breath and asks him if he's had anything to drink.

Hold it right here. At this point, Bob has some serious decisions to make that could really affect where this encounter goes. First, he could lie to the officer and tell him he hasn't had anything to drink. Not a good idea. The officer asked you if you'd had anything to drink, so he already thinks you have, he's just trying to make it easy on you. Second, he could tell the truth, that he's had three beers at happy hour. But by doing so he basically gives the cop enough information to do a full scale DUI investigation. Or third, he could politely decline to answer the officer's questions. That's right, just tell the officer you'd rather not answer. He's not going to be happy, but he can't do anything about it, because you have a Constitutional right to remain silent and not incriminate yourself. And telling the officer how much alcohol you've had to drink is certainly incriminating.

But what does Bob do? He says he's had a couple. And at that point he might as well get his Seattle traffic attorney on the line, because he's probably going to end up with a DUI charge. And, you might be wondering, would he have wound up with a DUI charge by following my advice? Possibly, but if he followed my advice (and my further advice as the investigation progressed) it would be a lot easier to defend and there would be a much greater chance of dismissal or reduction in charges.

So, my question to all of you is, would you be interested in learning this information? I'm thinking about putting together a presentation and offering it to employers, chamber of commerce meetings, and anywhere else people might find the information helpful. Would you find this information helpful?

Seattle Cop Shoots Man in Corvette

In one of the more interesting and disheartening stories of the day was this story out of Everett, Washington, where an officer shot and killed a man they say was drunk and trying to leave the scene. The full story, which you can read here, describes a wild scene in which several people called 911 to report the guy was going to leave the restaurant, the man trying to leave in a white corvette, and the eventual tasing and shooting of the man, resulting in his death.

As a Seattle traffic lawyer, it is disheartening to hear a story like this, and you have to wonder if the officer really needed to shoot the guy to get him to stop. It sounds as if the car was stopped for some time, the officers tried to get him out of the car (this is when they tased him), and he drove off. He hit a fence, supposedly knocking a woman over, and then he was shot dead.

Although this is a sad and trying story, there is a lesson to be learned here - don't try to run away from the police, particularly if you are going to put other people in danger. Nothing good will come of it (you will not get away, and will only get yourself in more trouble), and if the situation is just right (or wrong) you could end up shot dead. Like this story, a night out on the town can turn into an Everett DUI investigation and a shooting death in an instant.