OVI charge was dismissed after a 70-year-old driver tested 0.00 on a breath test and a urine analysis confirmed no alcohol or drugs were present. 

Charges:

Operating a Vehicle While Impaired (OVI)

DESCRIPTION OF CASE:

Our client, a 70-year-old man, was returning home late at night after a social gathering when he fell asleep at the wheel. His vehicle struck a guardrail in a single-vehicle accident, though he was fortunately uninjured. When law enforcement arrived, officers conducted a roadside OVI investigation and administered standardized field sobriety tests. Based on their observations at the scene, our client was placed under arrest and charged with Operating a Vehicle While Impaired (OVI).

Following the arrest, our client submitted to a breath test, which returned a result of 0.00 — confirming the complete absence of alcohol in his system. Despite this negative result, officers proceeded with the investigation and requested a urine sample to screen for drugs or controlled substances. The urine analysis likewise confirmed that no impairing substances were present in our client’s system. Faced with no scientific evidence of impairment whatsoever, the prosecution had no basis to proceed, and the OVI charge was dismissed in its entirety.

LEGAL REPRESENTATION:

This case illustrates a critical reality in OVI defense: observable signs at the scene of an accident — such as disorientation, unsteady movement, or slurred speech — can have entirely innocent explanations, including fatigue, age, a medical episode, or the physical shock of a collision. Without the intervention of experienced legal counsel, our client faced the very real risk of an OVI conviction based solely on an officer’s subjective field observations. Our attorneys conducted a thorough review of all evidence, including the breath test results and toxicology report, and leveraged the scientific findings to secure a complete dismissal of all OVI allegations, protecting our client’s driving record and his future.