There are many things that a police officer has to do during a DUI arrest that are mandated by the state of Florida. If an officer doesn’t follow those rules, the DUI arrest could be dismissed. That was the case in Polk County where 54 drunk driving cases have been dropped due to one sheriff’s deputy who did not follow those rules.
Polk County sheriff’s deputy Tex Thomas has been disciplined and reassigned following an internal investigation into how he conducted his DUI arrests and filing out the reports that went along with those arrests according to an ABC Action News report. Thomas was accused of violating the “20-minute rule”, which mandates police officers observe a suspect for 20 minutes before giving a breath test. Thomas apparently wasn’t disciplined for that reason though. He was officially disciplined for copying information from an original DUI report into subsequent reports in order to save time.

If you have been charged with a DUI in Polk County, please do not hesitate to contact DUI Defense Attorney David Haenel at 1-800-FIGHT-IT (1-800-344-4848) or online at FightYourPolkDUI.com to discuss the matter. Also you can contact David by stopping in any of our four central Florida offices.