In Massachusetts, police can conduct OUI-DUI roadside checks to stop and screen drunk drivers. However, if you are pulled over at a roadblock and arrested for OUI-DUI, you may be able to obtain the evidence the police obtained and have the case dismissed by filing a motion to suppress the attack on police conduct in executing the roadblock.
Generally, a police officer must have reasonable suspicion for sixteen persons under the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and under Article 14 of the Massachusetts Bill of Rights. When police stop an individual at a roadblock, a motorist is being stopped without individualized suspicion that the person is committing a crime.
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has held that a roadblock seizure for drunk driving is reasonable if police meet the strict standards set forth in a case known as Commonwealth v. McGeoghegan. First, the selection of vehicles to stop should not be made arbitrarily. Consequently, the police must stop the cars in some sequence; usually this is done by stopping each car. Second, the safety and inconvenience of motorists must be ensured through the implementation of a plan designed by law enforcement supervisory personnel regarding where vehicles will stop and where additional checks will take place. Third, the area selected by the police must be an area where there have been a high number of OUI-DUI arrests or accidents. Finally, although not required, the SJC has indicated that advance public notice of the date, but not the precise location, of the roadblock will lessen its subjective impact on motorists and support the constitutional reasonableness of the roadblock.
In attacking the validity of a roadblock, your attorney must obtain the roadblock plan through discovery that will reveal how the police intended to set up the roadblock, stop the cars, and the data that justified the site selection. In addition to attacking the procedure of how the roadblock was being conducted, an additional basis for attacking the stop is that the officer did not have reasonable suspicion to order the motorist to follow traffic. The initial welcoming officer must have reasonable suspicion to suspect that a motorist is operating under the influence before the motorist can be removed from the flow of traffic.
If you are stopped at a roadblock, it is important to have the discovery reviewed by an experienced attorney to determine whether the police followed proper procedure in setting up the roadblock and whether there was a basis for being ordered to leave the flow of traffic. . A motion to suppress the challenge of these elements, if successful, should result in the dismissal of your case.
