Viral video shows what’s wrong with Tennessee DUI checkpoints
YouTube users around the world can see what it means to be stopped at a Tennessee DUI checkpoint thanks to the actions of one young driver. A 21-year-old was stopped over the holiday weekend by a law enforcement officer and asked to pull over to the side of the road. Was he showing signs of impairment? Was he driving erratically? No.
Holiday times like the Fourth of July usually include increased efforts by law enforcement to target drunk driving. For the sake of making roads safer, police will enact strategies such as DUI checkpoints. Critics against that strategy argue how no matter what the goal, even if the risk of drunk driving is higher at a certain time of the year, violating the rights of U.S. citizens is not okay.
The driver who recorded the video and posted it to YouTube responded to the officer who stopped him in a respectful manner. He wasn’t rude or belligerent. He simply asked questions and recorded the incident in order to share with the world what a DUI checkpoint involves. In this incident, it apparently involved a driver — whom even the officer described as “innocent” in the video — being stopped and investigated for something he clearly didn’t do.
It is likely that checkpoints during the past week or so did lead to various DUI arrests in Tennessee. An arrest, even of someone who might be guilty of drunk driving, however, should be based on procedures that fit into the rules outlined by the U.S. Constitution. If someone believes that his rights were violated for the sake of a drunk driving arrest, a criminal defense lawyer could evaluate his case and help guide his next best move.
Source: News Channel 5, “Video Of DUI Checkpoint In Rutherford County Goes Viral,” July 8, 2013