Yes, I'm sure about it... see I was right.

Spent a better part of the day at my sister's house helping out with a few things. We (3 of us) also went to lunch around 12ish, we all had burgers and split a pitcher of beer. It came out to a little less than 2 beers for each of us.

Then we went back to her house to do a few more things, around 5 or so we tried out a new beer we picked, we each had one. Left for my house around 6:30, about 20 minutes later I was literally 1/2 mile from my house and saw 3 sheriff deputy cars with flashing lights, 2 cars at the intersection (4 way stop signs) and a red SUV on the shoulder at an angle. Two of the deputy cars were sitting in the middle of the intersection. I thought it was an accident, so I cut through the parking lot on the right side to make a right turn.

Well one of the deputy cars comes after me, and he wants to know why I tried to avoid the DUI checkpoint. I told him I thought it was an accident they way the cars were sitting.

He asks me if I had been drinking today. I said yes, I had a beer about 2 hours ago and another 2 about 7 hours ago. He tells me I'm lying to him and wants to see my license. He doesn't run it but calls over another officer on his radio. In the meantime he asks me a few more times how many I had, and I told him the same at least 4 more times. But always asking are you sure, and that it will go easier on me if I stop lying and tell the truth.

Then he tells me I'm still lying because my eyes are bloodshot and I'm slurring my speech... WTF? And also asks if I had any liquor. I tell him that I've been feeling a bit sick lately and that my eyes have been bothering for the last few days.

By this time another officer has made it over by walking. And the first officer tells me he wants me to submit to a breathalyzer test. I tell him I'm good with it, and he explains how it works. I've administered them before, so I know how they work. I blow into it until he says stop, looks at it then asks me where I was coming from and where I'm going.

I asked him what did it register, he asks me again where I was going and coming from. I told him, and asked again what it registered. He somewhat reluctantly said all zeroes. I had to do it, just had to it. I told him I was right, and he was lying not me, and none of that cop speak would work since I was also trained it. He didn't care for that but told me to go home.

I know what they're doing is a good thing, but seriously if I tell an officer something and he says it will go easier on me if I tell the truth why would I change my story. Well ok I know why they do it, but it's not going to work on me.

He just wanted a blowjob. Sheesh how dense can you possibly be?

Police have a standard template which they use on everyone. No matter what the person's BAL they always claim the exact same thing because it's a standard template form and they just change the names, times, and locations. I'm not surprised he was full of shit.

You seemingly avoided a DUI checkpoint, had bloodshot eyes, and admitted to having a couple of beers. It doesn't sound like you were subject to undue scrutiny.

The cop was right to pull him over, and under the circumstances it was perfectly reasonable to ask for a breath test. However repeatedly calling him a liar is wrong.

Sobriety checkpoints have no place in a free society. If you have cause to stop me, search me, or test me, fine...but me happening to be going from one place to another is not sufficient reason.

It's a common police tactic, ed629 said as much himself. Certainly the exchange was intense, especially awaiting the breathalyzer test results, yet everything ended well.

For a passenger in a vehicle or a pedestrian, certainly.

For a driver? Can't agree with you one bit.

Do you also disagree with random sobriety/drug tests for pilots of aircraft?

Oh, if it happens a lot then it must be good.

Are you all really entertaining the idea that Ed isn't bullshitting? Like with all his other posts?

Wait, you mean a BBS member might be guilty of telling tall tales?

This changes everything . . .

I was pulled over once on my way home from a bar. The officer was very professional, and though I shit a brick or two when he administered a field sobriety test, he never claimed that he didn't believe me regarding the number of drinks. I was in fact honest about it, and truth was I hadn't had very much to drink, but was very tired because I had been travelling. Anyway, I passed the test and he sent me on my way with the advice that I not speed, which was the official reason for pulling me over in the first place.

Generally my experience with the police has always been that if I respect them, they respect me. I have seen this with multiple agencies under various circumstances-

As described in the OP, it feels like entrapment.

It sounds like an attempt to get a confession, but unless the cop was offering a swig from his hip flask I don't see how you can get entrapment.

No, I meant all the cops parked in the middle of the intersection and street as though there were an accident, and Johnny Law allegedly pulling Ed over when he cut through the parking lot on that belief.

Once pulled over, how Ed interacted with the fuzz pretty much dictates how boarish the cop gets (allowing for the fact that many cops are that way by nature).

I had no problem with the checkpoint, or why the cop thought I was cutting through the parking lot. And I knew that I would pass the B.A.C. test, I thought I would blow a .01 - .02 at the most.

The part that I found irritating and felt the deputy was being an ass about, was his insistence that I was lying to him. As I mentioned he kept asking if I was sure, and that I was lying to him and his attitude about it. He became a bit aggressive telling me that it would go easier on me if I told the truth, and adding that my speech was slurred when I sure as hell knew it wasn't.

Big difference. I'M not driving a 600 mile per hour guided missile with hundreds of people riding in the back.

Would you agree with the police giving random sobriety tests to anyone, anywhere? On what basis would you say no?

No, you're operating a heavy projectile at speeds of up to 70 miles an hour or even higher on a public road. You have the same responsibilities for safety that the pilot has, in a much more highly populated environment. In taking on the responsibilities of the operator of a motor vehicle of ANY type, you also obligate yourself to verification on demand of compliance with the relevant regulations.

Did you miss the part where I said that passengers in vehicle or pedestrians shouldn't be tested?

Most aircraft aren't passenger jets. So should pilots of small aircraft not face the same random testing?

Not even remotely close to the same potential for harm.

"Verification on demand?" A cop should be able to pull you over just to check you out, then?

Why not? You seem to think the cops should have absolute authority in this regard. Why not test the passengers? How do you know they won't switch drivers after they're past the test?

Unless they're hauling passengers commercially, no.

I don't think cops should have ultimate authority, however I do agree with random testing of drivers as a responsibility of using your drivers license, because it's relatively unobtrusive and is an effective deterrent and good at picking up offenders.

Here it's pull over at the random testing station they'll have set up (typically later on a Friday or Saturday night when more people will be drink driving), breathe into the breathalyzer for 10 seconds, come up below 0.05 and drive off. About a minute total.

Why the exception for people carrying commercial passengers? A 747 carrying cargo and no passengers is just as dangerous to people on the ground. I'm doing my flight training in a tiny 172, but screwing up flying into a major airport could easily result in a collision with a plane carrying hundreds of people. Seems a very arbitrary line to cross.

I am 100% in favor of random testings for alcohol. If I'm out driving SOBER on Friday night, I don't want to get killed by some dumb fuck who thought he was ok. If he gets caught on a random stop, I don't die, and I'm ok with that.

When it's as unobtrusive as you describe, I can't see any reasonable objection for it. On the other hand, the situation described in the OP hardly seems unobtrusive.

I don't think it's unobtrusive at all. You're stopped, questioned, and examined by a law enforcement official and you have no choice about it. In fact, anything you do to try to avoid the checkpoint will be viewed as suspicious.

But I ask again: should a cop be able to pull you over just to check you out?

It isn't the time that concerns me, although waiting in the line and sitting for the test is a confiscation of my time without my consent.

It's that I MUST SUBMIT to the test. I am treated as a suspect and examined without my consent and am free to go on my way only if I pass muster.

Uh-uh. That's not how it works in a free society. The state does not generously permit me to use the roads: as a taxpayer, I'm the owner. And law enforcement officials have no business impeding on SO MUCH AS A SECOND of my time unless I've done something that gives them cause.

I'm a citizen, not a serf.

Sigh. Yes, any commercial type flying, I've got less of a problem with it. But a guy in a Cessna? No.

If you're that far gone, I doubt you're going to be able to respond coherently to ATC.

Do you get inspected every time you fly? Never happened to me even once while I was flying.

I have trouble seeing how simply being on the road could count as reasonable suspicion, let alone probable cause.

So you're okay with the cops pulling you over at any time to check you out, right?

Hyperbole. It's ok for cops to set up DUI checks on Friday and Saturday nights. That's keeping me safe and that's their job.

There are LOTS of things the cops could do to keep you safe. They could set up checkpoints at the end of your street and search everyone coming in, or they could go all Minority Report and arrest everyone who they think might commit a crime someday.

Presumably you wouldn't be OK with all of those. Presumably you, like most other people, feel there's a line to be drawn SOMEWHERE. Therefore, "it's keeping me safe" is not in and of itself a conversation-ending argument.

And what the FUCK is that stupid Golliwog smiley doing in the default smilies panel? Are we TRYING to make people think we're Stormfront Junior?