DUI checkpoint Notification A-

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keepitsimple
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Re: DUI checkpoint Notification A-

Post by keepitsimple »

I've never been pulled over in my 16 total years of driving, likely because I'm an attentive, courteous, and law-abiding driver. I'd like to keep it that way. I've almost encountered 3 checkpoints, all in NE Ohio incidentally, and I turned away from/skipped all 3 without incident. The first two were in Youngstown while I was going to YSU but lived in Boardman, and those were both during the late afternoon on the south side of town for "registration and insurance" checks or something, not specifically OVI. I turned away from both because I was heading to my evening classes and didn't want to/couldn't be late, so sitting in the queue wasn't really an option. Third was a bit farther north in Ashtabula county and I turned away because we were already running late for dinner with the in-laws. Each of the three times that I turned off to skip the checkpoint I observed a patrol car or two at the next immediate side-street intersections seemingly ready to pounce. To date though (knock on wood) I haven't been stopped or otherwise questioned about skipping one.
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Re: DUI checkpoint Notification A-

Post by elderboy02 »

Tweed Ring wrote:I believe such checkpoints are unconstitutional.
+1. I wish elected officials were required to follow the Constitution.
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JU-87
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Re: DUI checkpoint Notification A-

Post by JU-87 »

Tweed Ring wrote:I believe such checkpoints are unconstitutional.
SCOTUS decided that they are:
Since these DUI checkpoints regularly ensnare people who haven’t been drinking and driving, questions quickly arose about whether the checkpoints constituted an unreasonable search and seizure. The Supreme Court weighed in on the question in a 1990 decision and determined that DUI checkpoints are in fact a legal and valid law enforcement method.
http://traffic.findlaw.com/traffic-stop ... egal-.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Re: DUI checkpoint Notification A-

Post by Tweed Ring »

Yet, I can and do, with all due respect, disagree with their ruling.
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Re: DUI checkpoint Notification A-

Post by Brian D. »

Didn't one esteemed Justice from the Ohio Supreme Court just drive away from such a checkpoint, without being told to do so? To quote William Shatner in Airplane II: "Irony can be pretty ironic sometimes."

I could see a U.S. Supreme doing the same thing, if for some odd reason they were driving a car themselves, instead of being chauffeured.
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Re: DUI checkpoint Notification A-

Post by mreising »

Tweed Ring wrote:Yet, I can and do, with all due respect, disagree with their ruling.
We need a Like button. I'm with TR, the court decision was wrong, in my opinion, not that it is worth much. Then again, many court decisions are wrong but they get to set the rules; I guess that has something to do with being called Supreme.
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Chuck
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Re: DUI checkpoint Notification A-

Post by Chuck »

Is that the same Supreme Court who ruled that Dred Scott was property and not a person?
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Re: DUI checkpoint Notification A-

Post by SeanC »

For the checkpoint to be valid, the organizing agency must provide notice that there is a checkpoint ahead and a reasonable means to avoid the checkpoint. I've seen some where the reasonable means is that there is a parking lot you can turn into (legally) and then turn back out onto the road going away from the checkpoint. If you do that, and if they come for you, you should get a public records request out for the cruiser camera. If it shows a police officer waiting for someone to exercise their right to avoid the checkpoint, you certainly have a valid police complaint and probably have a good civil rights case (depending on your actual damages).

However, I have never seen a police officer do what you suggest. I have never had a prospective client complain to me that it had happened to them. I doubt there is a factual basis to the rumors of cops lying in wait to catch people who want to avoid the checkpoint. They have no reason to -- they get plenty of drunk idiots who voluntarily go through the checkpoint. Moreover, something like that could invalidate the checkpoint, and might jeopardize all the arrests and searches from the whole operation. It's not worth it for the police.
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Re: DUI checkpoint Notification A-

Post by M-Quigley »

For the checkpoint to be valid, the organizing agency must provide notice that there is a checkpoint ahead and a reasonable means to avoid the checkpoint. I've seen some where the reasonable means is that there is a parking lot you can turn into (legally) and then turn back out onto the road going away from the checkpoint. If you do that, and if they come for you, you should get a public records request out for the cruiser camera. If it shows a police officer waiting for someone to exercise their right to avoid the checkpoint, you certainly have a valid police complaint and probably have a good civil rights case (depending on your actual damages).

However, I have never seen a police officer do what you suggest. I have never had a prospective client complain to me that it had happened to them.
Are you referring to Ohio only? The reason I ask is I had that happen to me in Richmond, Indiana. When he pulled me over, he specifically accused me of trying to avoid the roadblock. I told him, no, I had just gotten off of work and forgot to do something before I left there. There was nothing illegal about how I went back the other way, nor did he accuse me of some violation as an excuse to pull me over. After asking a bunch of questions, they let me go. As I went up the road, the cop that pulled me over ending up parking his cruiser in front of the entrance to the parking lot that I used to turn around, so no one else could do that.
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Re: DUI checkpoint Notification A-

Post by JonasM »

This was quite some years ago, but on the east side of Cleveland, in an outer suburb, I witnessed what looked to me like a chase after a car turned away from a checkpoint.

At the last intersection before the checkpoint on this major road, there are, on opposite corners, a BP station, and a local eatery. I was driving towards the intersection in the left lane, planning on turning left into the eatery parking lot after passing the intersection. A car in front of me came to a stop after the intersection, paused maybe 5-10 seconds, probably looking at the flashing lights ahead, then turned right into the BP station. As I waited for traffic to move past so I could make my left, a police cruiser took off quickly from the roadblock, turned into the BP, and accosted the driver of the car.

I parked and headed into the restaurant by that point, so have no idea what went down afterwards.
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SeanC
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Re: DUI checkpoint Notification A-

Post by SeanC »

M-Quigley wrote:
For the checkpoint to be valid, the organizing agency must provide notice that there is a checkpoint ahead and a reasonable means to avoid the checkpoint. I've seen some where the reasonable means is that there is a parking lot you can turn into (legally) and then turn back out onto the road going away from the checkpoint. If you do that, and if they come for you, you should get a public records request out for the cruiser camera. If it shows a police officer waiting for someone to exercise their right to avoid the checkpoint, you certainly have a valid police complaint and probably have a good civil rights case (depending on your actual damages).

However, I have never seen a police officer do what you suggest. I have never had a prospective client complain to me that it had happened to them.
Are you referring to Ohio only? The reason I ask is I had that happen to me in Richmond, Indiana. When he pulled me over, he specifically accused me of trying to avoid the roadblock. I told him, no, I had just gotten off of work and forgot to do something before I left there. There was nothing illegal about how I went back the other way, nor did he accuse me of some violation as an excuse to pull me over. After asking a bunch of questions, they let me go. As I went up the road, the cop that pulled me over ending up parking his cruiser in front of the entrance to the parking lot that I used to turn around, so no one else could do that.
No, I believe those rules come from SCOTUS precedent. I haven't looked it up since law school, maybe I'm wrong (but I don't think so). If the stop you're referring to was long ago, it might have pre-dated the case I have in mind.
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Re: DUI checkpoint Notification A-

Post by deanimator »

Chuck wrote:Is that the same Supreme Court who ruled that Dred Scott was property and not a person?
No, it was the one which said that you can put people in concentration camps solely on the basis of their ethnicity without reference to any acts, criminal or otherwise which they have committed.
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Re: DUI checkpoint Notification A-

Post by gaptrick »

SeanC wrote:For the checkpoint to be valid, the organizing agency must provide notice that there is a checkpoint ahead and a reasonable means to avoid the checkpoint. I've seen some where the reasonable means is that there is a parking lot you can turn into (legally) and then turn back out onto the road going away from the checkpoint. If you do that, and if they come for you, you should get a public records request out for the cruiser camera. If it shows a police officer waiting for someone to exercise their right to avoid the checkpoint, you certainly have a valid police complaint and probably have a good civil rights case (depending on your actual damages).

However, I have never seen a police officer do what you suggest. I have never had a prospective client complain to me that it had happened to them. I doubt there is a factual basis to the rumors of cops lying in wait to catch people who want to avoid the checkpoint. They have no reason to -- they get plenty of drunk idiots who voluntarily go through the checkpoint. Moreover, something like that could invalidate the checkpoint, and might jeopardize all the arrests and searches from the whole operation. It's not worth it for the police.
It's my understanding this is how OSU quarterback Barret was just nabbed...
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