Fishin Texas Aggie 05 said:

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DPD chief is defending the cops and asking us to not say mean things

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We wrent going to sit idly by while people talk bad about us? You serious dude? We can say whatever the hell we want about you whenever we want without fear of retribution, as long as we aren't threatening violence or the like. That is part and parcel of American freedom.

Its things like this that make people hate cops. This thin blue line garbage from the chief is unbelievable.

DPD chief needs to resign

Wasn't done properly by who....the officer? She should not have been hauled in and the poor child.

How much experience did cop have?

On the walking, the cop says:

"don't stop until the test is complete"

"Are you done, I can't tell you to stop, you can tell me if you completed the test"

"Either you completed the test or you havent"

West says, " I don't know, you are giving me the test, I'm trying to do what you want me to do?"

MsDoubleD81 said:

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Wasn't done properly by who....the officer? She should not have been hauled in and the poor child.

How much experience did cop have?

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The cop. She obviously didn't have enough experience/training. I don't see how they can justify the arrest.

Lots of things to unpack from that video.

1. She took too long to pull over!
2. When she did stop, it was in the middle of the damn road!
3. I bet that is how the cop is going to get away with this. Same thing happened to my sister and they popped her for evading arrest

BlueTaze said:

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That cop sucks at her job

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Hey Chief Garcia. Your officer kept trying until she found a flaw, not found a flaw in the administering of a normal test. She sucks at her job, and you are pathetic demanding people don't criticize you or your officers. You suck at your job too, Chief.

Wonder what the narrative would be had the cop been white?

Quote:

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Mike Matta, the pres of the DPA. This sure sounds a lot like perhaps Mrs. West was being a complete ass and non cooperative. She blew the PBT so hard that it was knocked out of the the officer's hand. Seems she may suffer from angry entitled woman syndrome.

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Well, the one thing we no for certain is that Mike Matta has absolutely no credibility.

The cop would of still sucked at her job

I don't see how race is an issue, then again I rarely do.

Temple Ag said:

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Wow. I just watched that video. That sorry excuse for a cop should lose her job over this.

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Why?

A driver who is clearly under the influence was pulled over. She was swerving and riding the fog line. When she was lit up, she stopped IN THE MIDDLE OF FREAKING NORTHWEST HIGHWAY and sat there until the officer told her to pull over up ahead off the highway. She then drives forward and pulls over on the side of the highway and sits there. Officer again has to exit the car and walk up and tell her to drive forward and exit off the highway so he isn't talking to her with cars whizzing by him, endangering them both.

When you're so ****ing out of it that you can't even pull over correctly, you're in no condition to drive.

During the field sobriety test, she completely fails the heel-toe walk, just walking along like she has no idea what is going on. If the officer hadn't stopped her, she'd still be walking in circles today. Failure to follow simple directions like a heel-toe walk are yet another sign of being under the influence.

We don't even need to get into the fact that she can't blow on a breathalyzer for five seconds. She registered a 0.0 because she kept taking short, choppy breaths, so there was no reading. When you can't give one sustained breath to give a reading on a breathalyzer, especially when instructed several times to do so, it is another sign you're out of it.

This was a good arrest, and Alan West's run for governor is dead in the water. What a stupid entitled response from him, but good to see who he really is now before he is put in a position where abuse of power is allowed.

sam callahan said:

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Quote:

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Mike Matta, the pres of the DPA. This sure sounds a lot like perhaps Mrs. West was being a complete ass and non cooperative. She blew the PBT so hard that it was knocked out of the the officer's hand. Seems she may suffer from angry entitled woman syndrome.

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Well, the one thing we no for certain is that Mike Matta has absolutely no credibility.

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Matta is a good guy, she did blow on the PBT hard enough that she had to reset it a few times. Sounds like Matta misunderstood a comment in the report, or OP misunderstood something Matta said.

Good thing West is somewhat famous else some other poor sap would get railroaded with these antics. It happens all the time and people can't afford to fight it.

thirdcoast said:

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VegasAg86 said:

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Any thoughts on the HGN in the video?

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Hard to tell from that body cam footage. But looks like she might have given up without seeing a twitch. My understanding is that the roadside HGN eye twitch is something the officer must record in their report, it certainly was when I got it back before body cams. With the tech today, they should be required to use a small cam with light to do it....so it's not the cops word. But instead a recorded eye twitch at max deviation or failure to max deviate or no twitch at max dev.

Generally speaking, that cop made several mistakes that she wouldn't have made had Mrs West remained silent and gone straight to jail like most here would suggest.

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You know the state has to prove your guilt, right? Your approach in this situation didn't save someone from getting arrested and the DUI likely won't stick no matter what. Not sure what your point is here. It's not like your advice here is good. She's lucky the cop ****ed up, but she didn't need to take the chance. Now she has to defend failing the heel toe thing and the stand on one foot thing. She still has to hire an attorney.

Tell me again - why is the outcome here better than it would have been if she had just shut up and gone to jail? The cop spent all that effort searching for proof of intoxication. Why wouldn't there be just as much chance the cop had no additional proof and was forced to let her go if those tests weren't performed?

She was instructed to "blow as hard as you can"

I notice you didn't comment on the super long eye movement test

Buzzy said:

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This was a good arrest, and Alan West's run for governor is dead in the water. What a stupid entitled response from him, but good to see who he really is now before he is put in a position where abuse of power is allowed.

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She told her walk 9 steps turn and walk back 9 steps. Technically a sign. She certainly doesn't sound intoxicated. She doesn't follow the directions. Arrest is technically warranted. Bad driving but she really seems ok. Be surprised if convicted. Seems like a scared older woman. See blood tet results.

https://www.texastribune.org/2021/08/23/dallas-arrest-allen-west-angela-graham/

Her attorney says she had a 5 panel UA that came back showing no alcohol. He said it's a test that can detect alcohol use for up to 80 hours.

This is what I found about detecting alcohol for 80 hours:
https://premierbiotech.com/innovation/etg-article/

There's a lot riding on the blood test.

jwj said:

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She told her walk 9 steps turn and walk back 9 steps. Technically a sign. She certainly doesn't sound intoxicated. She doesn't follow the directions. Arrest is technically warranted. Bad driving but she really seems ok. Be surprised if convicted. Seems like a scared older woman. See blood tet results.

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Was she scared when she was riding the fog line?

Was the scared when she parked in the middle of a damn highway?

It's honestly disturbing how hard some of y'all are trying to dismiss an obviously under-the-influence driver.

I'm sure if she had smashed into another car and killed someone, you would claim it was the other driver's fault for not driving defensively to avoid her.

Yes, stopping in the middle of the highway was a red flag but you dont know what the officer told her.

And after watching the video I'm sure whatever directions she gave Mrs. West was as clear as mud.

The sobriety test looked more like harassment than anything.

Don't pass up a summons being a professional judge jury and all that.

OldArmyBrent said:

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Tell me again - why is the outcome here better than it would have been if she had just shut up and gone to jail? The cop spent all that effort searching for proof of intoxication. Why wouldn't there be just as much chance the cop had no additional proof and was forced to let her go if those tests weren't performed?

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I don't know why you would think someone suspected of drunk driving would be let go for refusing everything, especially the way she pulled over. That says a lot about what little you know.

First, never a good idea for a grandma to balance on one foot on side of road regardless of whether she has early alzthimers or is on benzos or is just scared.

Why was her outcome better than if is she immediately lawyered up and went straight to jail? Because if the tox report comes back bad, she has an inexperienced sloppy cop for a jury to watch, while the scared grandma seems to have nothing to hide, and does ok for a grandma.

Otherwise, the jury would only be able to go off the very abnormal way she was pulled over, and may see her refusal as sign of prescription drug intoxication.

So you call it "lucky", ok fine. Doesn't change that she is better off now, than she would be telling cop she wants a lawyer and going straight to jail.

*if the blood comes back clean then it's dismissed in either scenario. We are comparing her chances in the 2 scenarios IF it comes back positive.

She had a child in the car. That can be a distraction. She stopped immediately. The charge is dwi not being a bad driver. She did not seem intoxicated. The arrest was justified under ntsa guidelines. Probable cause. Blood test will show the rest. Too many want to decide without all the facts but based on preconceptions. We shall see.

jwj said:

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She had a child in the car. That can be a distraction. She stopped immediately. The charge is dwi not being a bad driver. She did not seem intoxicated. The arrest was justified under ntsa guidelines. Probable cause. Blood test will show the rest. Too many want to decide without all the facts but based on preconceptions. We shall see.

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She failed the toe-heel test, but didn't seem intoxicated. She failed the number of steps, but didn't seem intoxicated. She had an open container of alcohol in the car, but didn't seem intoxicated. She had spilled alcohol on the front of her shirt, but didn't seem intoxicated. She rode the fog line like it was a railroad track, but she didn't seem intoxicated.

Some of y'all are really too much.

I challenge everyone here to do all these tests she supposedly failed when sober and put them on video. WITHOUT PRACTICE. Yeah, the cop that testifies at court will do it perfectly because he's done it a thousand times. When I served on a DWI jury, when we went back to the room to deliberate, I did one of the tests and had similar results as the defendant. That movement alone swayed those on my jury, because they tried it too.

If you can do it perfectly, ask your spouse to do it. People you work with. You will find many sober people fail or at least not pass with flying colors.

thirdcoast said:

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OldArmyBrent said:

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Tell me again - why is the outcome here better than it would have been if she had just shut up and gone to jail? The cop spent all that effort searching for proof of intoxication. Why wouldn't there be just as much chance the cop had no additional proof and was forced to let her go if those tests weren't performed?

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I don't know why you would think someone suspected of drunk driving would be let go for refusing everything, especially the way she pulled over. That says a lot about what little you know.

First, never a good idea for a grandma to balance on one foot on side of road regardless of whether she has early alzthimers or is on benzos or is just scared.

Why was her outcome better than if is she immediately lawyered up and went straight to jail? Because if the tox report comes back bad, she has an inexperienced sloppy cop for a jury to watch, while the scared grandma seems to have nothing to hide, and does ok for a grandma.

Otherwise, the jury would only be able to go off the very abnormal way she was pulled over, and may see her refusal as sign of prescription drug intoxication.

So you call it "lucky", ok fine. Doesn't change that she is better off now, than she would be telling cop she wants a lawyer and going straight to jail.

*if the blood comes back clean then it's dismissed in either scenario. We are comparing her chances in the 2 scenarios IF it comes back positive.

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You are wrong. If she refuses every test and goes straight to jail, there is no proof of intoxication except the poor driving and the blood test. A decent defense lawyer will argue that the elapsed time between the time of the arrest and the blood draw will allow more alcohol to be processed in her system causing the BAC to be higher than it was when she was driving. The failure of multiple tests will be hard to overcome.

If I ever go on trial I want a lot of you on my jury.

Most people when at a .08-.10 will hug a line and you will see them jerk the car back or a slow swerve within the lane back and forth. The fact that West drove on the shoulder for so long is an indication that she is very intoxicated.

When lit up, she pulled over in the middle lane of the highway. That is a sign of intoxication. She was instructed to drive to Shady Trail and pull over. She proceeded to drive to the right lane of the freeway and pull over. The officer again had to get out of the car and instruct her to pull over on Shady Trail. Failure to follow simple instructions are an indication of intoxication.

She failed the HGN bad enough where it can be seen on the camera. Another sign of intoxication.

She did not walk heal to toe and she continued to walk beyond the 9 steps. That is a failure of the test. Another sign of intoxication.

She put her arms out to balance, did not hold the leg up for 30 seconds, then switched legs during the one-legged stand. That is a failure. Another sign of intoxication.

She had spilled alcohol on her shirt and a McDonalds cup containing alcohol in the center console of the SUV. The car smelled like an alcoholic beverage when you approached it. These are all signs of intoxication.

Any one of these is enough reason to arrest her for suspicion of DWI. When the blood results come back I will be shocked if she is under a 0.15.

The officer at the scene did her job and protected that baby and the general public from an intoxicsted driver. For that, she is receiving death threats. Allen West had my vote for governor right up until he demanded that the chief and mayor come to his house and apologize and the officer be fired and put her name out in public. Do you think he's going to go to the chief, mayor, and officer's houses and apologize to them when her blood test comes back over the limit? He lied when describing the officer's behavior. He cannot be trusted and he comes off as an entitled bully.

Bocephus said:

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She had spilled alcohol on her shirt and a McDonalds cup containing alcohol in the center console of the SUV. The car smelled like an alcoholic beverage when you approached it. These are all signs of intoxication.

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Where are we seeing this?

Player To Be Named Later said:

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Bocephus said:

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She had spilled alcohol on her shirt and a McDonalds cup containing alcohol in the center console of the SUV. The car smelled like an alcoholic beverage when you approached it. These are all signs of intoxication.

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Where are we seeing this?

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We're not. They didn't test the drink. She never appeared intoxicated to me at any point.

Her driving and her walking like an idiot on the heel-toe seemed beyond suspect.

How do you know? I know what Bo does for a living and I have every reason in the world to believe him

Who here is a lawyer and is not?

That way I know who to listen to and who to ignore.

aTmAg said:

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Who here is a lawyer and is not?

That way I know who to listen to and who to ignore.

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Ignore them all. It is safer that way

Charpie said:

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How do you know? I know what Bo does for a living and I have every reason in the world to believe him

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Mark Davis said it on his radio show this morning with Allen West.