Basics of a Texas DWI in Austin, Travis County

A typical DWI arrest consists of being pulled over while driving, usually for swerving or bad driving observed by an officer. Frequently, other suspicious drivers may call 911 or a DWI hot line to report other drivers on the road.

Once an officer has pulled over an individual for DWI, the officer with conduct several observations to further establish reasonable suspicion or probable cause, such as looking for blood shot eyes, slurred speech, unsteady gait or fumbling with documents, and the smell of alcohol. While pure alcohol has no smell, officers will frequently testify that the flavoring in alcohol (the other additives in the drink) has a distinct smell when consumed and on the breath.

After making preliminary observations, the officer will usually conduct field sobriety tests, or FSTs. The FSTs consist of several physical tests that are commonly thought to gauge a person's intoxication level. Some of the field sobriety tests used are the walk and turn test, finger tip to nose test, stand on one leg test, silent count to thirty test, and the Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus test.

Many times, either before or after the FSTs, an officer will ask the driver of a suspected DWI to breathe into a machine commonly called a breathalyzer or breath test device, used to calculate a person's intoxication by measuring the alcohol content at that moment in the breath.

If the result of a breath or blood test reads at or above a .08%, the driver is generally arrested for DWI, although the results need not be at a .08 or above to arrest. DWI Arrests can be made at breath or even blood test levels below a .08%, if the officer believes the person is too intoxicated to drive. Travis County has been known to prosecute DWI cases based on lower than .08% blood alcohol levels.

At a DWI arrest, an officer will hand the driver a notice of driver's license suspension, which is sent to the Texas DPS. A person arrested on a DWI charge has the right to appeal the driver's license suspension at the DPS with a formal administrative hearing. Typically the arresting officer will testify at the DPS hearing, setting forth the suspected probable cause for arrest and suspension of the driver's license. The key is to request the hearing within ten days of DWI arrest -- within 10 days! -- in order to conduct the DPS hearing, otherwise, the right to an administrative DWI DPS hearing is waived and lost.