My name is Paul Doroshenko and I’m an IRP lawyer. What that means is that I defend the drunk driving cases that are common in BC. I’ve defended police DUI and impaired driving cases for over 15 years.
Today I will tell you a little bit about dissecting police DUI investigations in a drink-drive case.
In the majority of the drinking driving cases, the police officer is the witness to the driving.
The unusual thing about impaired driving investigations is that the police are usually the main witnesses to the facts in the case. If you compare that to a simple assault, for example, you can see why drunk driving defence is often viewed as one of the most challenging things for a lawyer to take on.
The police are experts in preparing and providing evidence. They have received training in collecting evidence. They have received training in recording evidence. And they have received training in presenting evidence to courts and tribunals. And on top of that they usually have a great deal of experience with these three essential tasks. So as you can imagine, dealing with the evidence of police officers is a real challenge.
For lawyers who defend a lot of impaired driving cases, we look forward to assault cases because in comparison they’re a piece of cake!
In the majority of the drinking driving cases, the police officer is the witness to the driving, the witness to the police stop, the witness to the symptoms that may show impairment, the witness to the breath samples being taken, and the witness to the technical steps that the officer takes to get the evidence to the court or tribunal.
So it’s a challenge dissecting a police investigation for impaired driving. It’s one of the reasons highly skilled impaired driving lawyers are usually also very good at defending other criminal cases. They practise by challenging and dissecting the evidence of police officers who have been trained to give evidence.
If you want a skilled impaired driving lawyer to take your police DUI case, just give us a call and get the ball rolling. You’ll feel better about your case when you have a lawyer skilled in dissecting a police investigation for impaired driving.
In a future video we’ll tell you about the steps in an impaired driving investigation, so check back for that.