"Have You Had Anything to Drink?" How to Answer

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The most dangerous moment in a traffic stop often isn’t the lights in your mirror, it’s the “friendly” question that comes next: “Have you been drinking?” If you’ve ever wondered what you’re supposed to say, what you can refuse, and how a basic speeding stop suddenly becomes a Texas DWI investigation, we walk you through the turning points in plain English.

We explain why the law matters at the roadside: an officer needs reasonable suspicion to stop you, and the stop is supposed to last only long enough to investigate the original violation. But once the officer gathers new facts, the scope can expand fast. We talk about the exact kinds of questions that can create momentum toward a DWI arrest and why your own words are often the easiest way for an officer to justify extending the detention.

Then we get practical. We share how to handle the drinking question without helping the case build against you, how to invoke your right to remain silent, and why asking to speak with an attorney can shut down further questioning. We also break down field sobriety tests, including the common line that they’re just to “make sure you’re okay,” and why refusing those tests can protect you when the burden is on the officer to establish probable cause.

If you’re dealing with a DWI charge or criminal case in San Antonio, use the links in the show notes to grab the free download and schedule a free consultation. Subscribe for more clear guidance, share this with someone who drives at night, and leave a review with the question you want answered next.

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Sean Henricksen Law Firm

sean@seanhenricksen.com

210-405-6410

106 S. St. Mary's St., Ste 445

San Antonio, Texas 78205

www.seanhenricksen.com

Transcript

Welcome And Today’s Scenario

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hi, and welcome back to another episode of What to Expect When You're Arrested. This is your host, Sean Hendrickson, here from the Sean Hendrickson Law Firm, where we help good people like you avoid the devastating consequences of criminal charges. Today we're going to be talking about what do you do if you're pulled over and an officer asks if you've been drinking. It's actually much more complicated than you would expect it to be because it has a lot of implications. Before we get to that, we do have a free download for you. It's five things you should be doing right now if you've been arrested. If you click down in the show notes below, there's a link in there. We will send that right out to you. We also have a link down there where you can schedule a free consultation. So if you are being charged with a crime here in San Antonio, definitely click on that link. That way we can schedule that consultation with you and we can answer a lot of your questions, let you know what to expect, and let you know how we may be able to help you out. And there is that link down in the show notes for that. I hope that y'all have all had a great week. My week is going pretty well. Yesterday I was actually in court almost all day, which is unusual. I didn't get out of court until five o'clock for a non-trial day. That's a little bit unusual, but we did help out a lot of people and got some good results. Most DWI arrests start out with some sort of traffic stop. That's somebody being pulled over for speeding or not using their blinker or not staying in their lane or something like that. And the important thing to know is that when an officer detains you for something, like for speeding, they can only detain you long enough to investigate you for that violation. And an officer has to have reasonable suspicion to believe that you're breaking the law to detain you for something. So if an officer pulls you over for speeding, first they have to have reasonable suspicion to believe that you're that you are speeding. And that can be their radar, it can be that you're going a lot faster than the traffic around you. They have to have something that they can point to before they can pull you over for speeding. And when they do, they can only stop you long enough to write you that ticket for speeding. However, if the officer gets reasonable suspicion to believe that you've been breaking another law during that stop, then they can extend it so that they can investigate that other crime too. That means that if you're pulled over for speeding and an officer smells alcohol in your breath, or if they ask you a question like, how much have you been drinking, or where are you coming from? And you mentioned that you're coming from a bar, that gives them reasonable suspicion now to investigate you for a DWI, which means that they can do field sobriety tests and everything else to see if you are intoxicated. That's what you don't want to have happen. You don't want this officer who pulled you over for speeding to turn this into a full-blown DWI investigation. And they can't ask simple questions because it doesn't extend the stop long enough to violate your constitutional rights. So they can ask you questions like have you had anything to drink, even if there's no other reason for them to suspect that you're intoxicated. If they do ask that question or a similar question, we don't want you to admit to drinking because that extends the stop and they're going to do the full-blown investigation and they're going to be leaning towards arresting you already. We also don't want you denying that because, especially if the officer did smell alcohol or anything else, then we don't want the officer to believe that you're not telling the truth. We want to not answer that question at all. Remember, you have the right to remain silent. You don't have to answer an officer's question. And if they ask you if you've had anything to drink, that's when you know that this officer is trying to turn this into more than just a speeding ticket. And that's when you need to shut down any questions and everything else. So what you need to do is you need to let that officer know that you're not answering any more questions, you're going to exercise your right to remain silent, and you're going to demand to speak with an attorney. They're not going to actually get you an attorney, but that should stop them from asking you any further questions. If the officer does have reasonable suspicion to believe that you're driving while intoxicated because there's alcohol on your breath or any other reason, then they can extend that stop, but it's important that you shut everything off then. You don't want to answer any more questions. And if they ask you if you're going to do the field sobriety test or ask you to step out of the car and they start doing the test on your eyes, which is generally the first field sobriety test, you want to refuse to do those field sobriety tests. Those field sobriety tests are not there to help you out. And a frequent thing that I hear officers telling drivers is, I just need to make sure that you're okay to drive and then you'll be free to go. That is a complete lie. Remember, the burden is on them. An officer has to have probable cause before they can arrest you. You have no obligation to prove to them that you are okay to drive. If an officer is not sure whether or not you're okay to drive, that means you get to go home. That means that they don't have probable cause to arrest you, which means you get to go home free. What I want you to remember today is if you're pulled over for anything and an officer starts asking you questions about you drinking, how much you've had to drink, whether you're coming from a bar or anything like that, that's when you need to shut that conversation down, invoke your right to remain silent, demand to speak with an attorney, and refuse to do any field sobriety tests because that officer is trying to put you in jail at that point. I hope that this was helpful for you. If you do have any questions, or like I said, if you're being charged with a crime, you can always give us a call at 210 405 6410, or you can use that link down in the show notes, schedule that free consultation. I'd be happy to have a conversation with you about your case, answer any questions that you have, and let you know how we may be able to help you out. I hope that you have a great day.