What to Expect When You're Arrested (in San Antonio)
I'm a criminal defense attorney in San Antonio. When I was in my early 20s, I was arrested for DWI. I had no idea what to expect or what was going on with my case because my attorney didn't let me know what to expect. Now that I'm an attorney, I want to make sure that you don't have to go through the same experience that I did. This podcast will let you know what you can expect to happen at the different stages of your case. Even though it focuses on how cases in San Antonio are handled, it will be helpful even if you're charged somewhere else. If you've been arrested for DWI, assault, possession, or anything else, you probably have many questions about what will happen in your case. You'll probably have more questions while your case works through the system. This podcast will answer many of your questions.
What to Expect When You're Arrested (in San Antonio)
What to Do If the Police Are Violating Your Rights
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If you have any questions about this or if you're being charged with a crime, feel free to call us at 210-405-6410 or click here to schedule a free consultation.
Click the link below to receive 5 Things You Should Do If You've Been Arrested:
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The roadside is not a courtroom, and trying to “prove” an officer wrong in the moment can be the fastest way to leave with handcuffs and extra charges. We share a real example of someone who believed police were violating his rights, stood his ground, and still walked away facing two criminal charges and a much harder path forward.
We break down the core idea we want you to remember under stress: comply first and fight later. That doesn’t mean giving up your constitutional rights. It means staying calm, not resisting, and avoiding the kinds of arguments that can escalate into force, arrest, or accusations like resisting arrest, interfering with public duties, or failure to identify. We explain why even when a stop or arrest is illegal, the best place to challenge probable cause and police conduct is in court with an experienced criminal defense attorney, not on the shoulder of the road.
You’ll also get practical, step-by-step language you can use to protect yourself: clearly invoke your right to remain silent, ask for an attorney, and then stop talking. We cover why you should never consent to searches of your car or your person, and how a search done without consent can become something your lawyer can challenge later. We also talk about why lying to police backfires, especially in identity situations and DWI investigations, where facts like odor, breath tests, or blood results can quickly expose a lie and hurt your credibility.
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If you have any questions about this or if you're being charged with a crime, feel free to call us at 210-405-6410 or click here to schedule a free consultation.
Click the link below to receive 5 Things You Should Do If You've Been Arrested:
https://bit.ly/3tDOVbt
If you have any questions about this or if you're being charged with a crime, feel free to call us at 210-405-6410 or click here to schedule a free consultation.
Click the link below to receive 4 Things You Should Do If You've Been Arrested:
https://bit.ly/3tDOVbtAdvertisement
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
Welcome And Free Resources
SPEAKER_00Hi, 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 you should do if you think an officer is violating your rights. 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 there and we will send that right out to you. We also have a link where you can schedule a free consultation without ever even having to give us a call. Just click on that link, pick a time that works out for you, and we'll be happy to discuss your case with you, answer any questions that you have, and let you know how we may be able to help you out.
A Real Stop Turns Into Charges
SPEAKER_00I met with somebody today who thought the police were violating his rights. He stood his ground and refused to cooperate, but at the end of the day, he actually ended up walking away with two criminal charges. That's what I want to talk about today is what do you do if you're in that position where you're on the side of the road and you think there's an officer who's violating your rights, what should you do?
Comply Now And Fight Later
SPEAKER_00The short answer is to comply first and fight later. But honestly, it's a little bit more complicated than that. When you're on the side of the road, emotions can be running high and you could be in a position where you are trying to convince an officer that you're right and you're trying to win this argument. But in reality, if an officer wants to arrest you or wants to get you out of your car, there's not much that you can do to stop them. You can try and fight them or you can try and refuse, but ultimately they're gonna call their friends up and they're gonna get you out of your car by force. They're gonna break your window and pull you out. Or if they want to arrest you, then they're gonna call their friends up and they're going to end up putting you under arrest. Now is not the time to be fighting them because there's not much that you can do to stop them. Now is not the time to fight them, even if you're right, and you may be right. I see illegal stops, I see illegal arrests all the time. And so you may very well be right that that officer is violating your constitutional rights and has no probable cause to arrest you. But in reality, we want you to comply right now. Let the officer arrest you if that's what he wants to do. Let him get you out of the car if that's what he wants to do, and wait until later to fight everything. Get yourself an attorney. That's when we can look at everything and show that the officer was doing the wrong thing and making the wrong decisions. And we're not trying to convince the officer that he was wrong. We don't care about what the officer thinks anymore. We've got a judge and jury who we can show things to, and we can show the judge and jury that the officer was doing things wrong and that you should never have been arrested or charged in the first place. What I do see a lot is that when people do fight the officer on this type of an issue, they end up either being charged with something that they never should have been charged with in the first place or picking up more charges. Could be failure to identify or resisting arrest or interfering with public duties. There are a lot of different things that officers can charge you with if you are fighting against them when they're trying to do what they think they have the right to do. In reality, what you should be doing if you're in the situation is to stay calm, don't argue, and don't resist, and don't interfere with the officer doing what they want you to do.
Silence And No Search Consent
SPEAKER_00You should also exercise the rights that you can exercise. Tell that officer that you are exercising your right to remain silent and demand to speak with an attorney. They're not going to get you an attorney, but it should stop them from asking you any other questions because we don't want them questioning you and we don't want you putting yourself in a position where you may say something that puts yourself in a worse position. Once you tell the officer you're exercising your right to remain silent, don't say anything else. If an officer does ask you for permission to search you or your vehicle, do not consent to any searches at all. If they do end up searching your vehicle or searching you without your consent, then that's something that we can fight in court again, potentially.
Why Lying Makes Things Worse
SPEAKER_00We also want to make sure that you're not lying about anything to the police either. There are a few reasons it can be a bad idea to lie to the police. If it's about your identity and you lie and you say that you're somebody else, they can charge you with failure to identify and they can enhance that case if you lie and say that you're somebody else, as opposed to just refusing to identify yourself. Or if it's a case where you're being investigated for a DWI and you lie about how much you've had to drink and say you haven't had anything to drink, and then they can either smell it on your breath, or blood results or breath tests show that you have had something to drink, then you don't look credible anymore either to that officer or to a jury if your case goes to trial. That's when we want you to exercise your right to remain silent and just not answer at all. If you're in a position where the cops are investigating you for something, then you have the right to remain silent and we recommend that you exercise
Quick Checklist And How To Reach Us
SPEAKER_00that right. I hope that this was helpful for you. And if you find yourself in a position where you believe the cops are violating your rights, ultimately just let them do what they're gonna do, comply with their demands, exercise your right to remain silent, don't give them consent to search anything, don't do field sobriety tests, and let us fight the case later on. If you do have any questions or if you're being charged with a crime here in the San Antonio area, please feel free to give us a call at 210 405 6410, or you can click on that link down in the show notes to schedule a free consultation with us where we'll be happy to discuss your case with you. I hope that you have a great day.