For anyone who has been arrested and charged with a crime, the criminal judicial system probably appeared overwhelming and intimidating. Last week, a Brooklyn man chose to stand up to the system and assert that the police had fabricated DWI charges to cover their own misconduct. Thus far, he has made a persuasive case.

The incident began as the man was traveling along Glenwood Road in East Flatbush. According to the man, a police department SUV driven by a police officer and carrying four additional officers on East 43rd Street ignored a stop sign and broadsided the man’s car. The police asked the man if he had been drinking and he said no. He voluntarily took a breath test, and it showed no alcohol or drugs in his blood stream. Nevertheless, the police charged the man with driving under the influence of alcohol. They also filed an accident report that said the man displayed red watery eyes, slurred speech, and the odor of alcohol. The report denied the existence of any traffic control device at the intersection; the police department later admitted that traffic on 43rd Street must stop before entering Glenwood Road.

Through his attorney, the man is alleging that the police fabricated the drunk driving offenses to cover up their own misconduct, i.e., running the stop sign. The man has been interviewed by investigators from the Police Department’s Internal Affairs unit and from the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office.

This case is far from being resolved, but it demonstrates that police officers can occasionally misstate the facts of a situation. The great majority of DUI arrests and prosecutions do not depend upon deliberately fabricated evidence. Nevertheless, police officers may misperceive the circumstances of an arrest or distort information to increase the likelihood of conviction. An experienced criminal attorney can assist a person facing DUI charges by providing a critical evaluation of the evidence, by suggesting possible defenses and by providing an estimate of the probability of a favorable plea bargain or outright acquittal.

Source: New York Daily News, “Brooklyn man who claims NYPD framed him on DUI charges questioned by Internal Affairs, prosecutors,” John Marzulli, July 28, 2015