A common request police officers make to people they believe are driving drunk is to submit to a preliminary breath test (PBT). The Criminal Defense Law Center of West Michigan believes that most of the time it is in the best interest of the person being investigated for drunk driving to refuse the test.
What is a Preliminary Breath Test?
A PBT is a small handheld device that tries to measure blood alcohol content. This device tries to do this by measuring the amount of alcohol in your breath. The safe rule of thumb when it comes to a PBT result being brought up in court is that the results are not allowed to prove how much alcohol is in the body of a person standing trial for a DUI.
PBTs have a bad tendency to produce false results. The reasons for this may be other substances are found by the PBT, bad weather conditions and police officers who aren’t properly trained to use the device.
A PBT is a small device that is portable and the vast majority of the time a test with a PBT is given on the side of the road.
Should I Take The Preliminary Breath Test When An Officer Asks Me To?
In most cases, a person should refuse to take the test.
MCL 257.625a(2)(d) provides that ” a person who refuses to submit to a preliminary chemical breath analysis upon a lawful request by a peace officer is responsible for a civil infraction.” Due to additional penalties for commercial driver license (CDL) holders, refusing a PBT may not be appropriate for a CDL holder.
When a person refuses to take a PBT test, they will be given a civil infraction. By taking this test, a driver maybe giving a police officer probable cause to arrest you for DUI.
Refusing an Implied Consent Chemical Test
Under Michigan law, a person is required to consent to chemical testing after you have been placed under arrest you have been arrested for drunk driving. The reason for this is the Michigan Implied Consent Law. This test can be given in three different forms: a breath test, urine test, or blood test.
If you are taken to a police station or jail the implied consent test would take place after you are arrested. This test can also take place at a hospital where you will be given a blood draw.
Refusing the implied consent test results in a severe punishment of six points on your driving license. Up to $2,000 dollars in fines and your license will be suspended for one full year! The police officer will then go get a warrant for your blood draw. These warrants are almost always granted and then the police will get the evidence anyways.
If you refuse the Implied Consent chemical test the punishment is 6 points on your license, $2000.00 in fines, and your license will be suspended for a year. It is highly likely that the police will get a warrant for your blood if you refuse the test and get the evidence anyway. This means if the police officer has to hold you down with brutal force they will do so in order to get the blood draw.
The other interesting fact about this situation is that even if you get your drunk driving case completely dropped, the punishments of the refusal can stay in effect.