In a story reported by the associated press, Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward was arrested in Atlanta, Georgia on Saturday, July 9, for Driving Under the Influence (DUI), after failing field sobriety tests administered at the roadside.  Ward, who played high school football in Forrest Park, Georgia, was first noticed by a MARTA (Metropolitan Atlanta  Rapid Transit Authority) officer  for apparently failing to maintain his lane and running over a curb in the Doraville, DeKalb County area.  After witnessing Mr. Ward’s driving, the MARTA officer pulled the star wide receiver over, and called an officer with the DeKalb County STAR team, the county’s elite DUI taskforce.  Upon arrival, Officer Catalano with STAR administered standardized field sobriety testing, claiming that Ward failed all three standardized tests, and showed clues of impairment on at least two other tests commonly used by officers- the PBT, or preliminary breath test, and the alphabet test.

The Hines Ward case will rely largely on the video evidence in the case.  DeKalb STAR team officers have video equipment in their vehicle, and are wired with microphones to capture conversation during DUI arrests.  The trend of wiring up officers to bolster DUI cases is spreading throughout the Metro-Atlanta area, and I am seeing more and more encounters in cases I handle being captured on video.  Video evidence in a case, such as the Hines Ward case, can cut either way.  The video is the single most neutral piece of evidence.  Video simply captures what it sees and hears, without putting any spin on the facts.  In Ward’s case, you have a well-trained DUI officer claiming that Mr. Ward failed numerous sobriety evaluations.  While technically this may very well be true; a video of the arrest has the potential to allow jurors and the public to see how Mr. Ward was truly acting and performing on these evaluations.  While performing one of the standardized tests, the “walk and turn” test, subjects only need to make two mistakes in order to ‘fail’ the test.  With close to 100 ways to commit error on this “walk and turn” test, a video can be helpful in allowing a jury to see the true picture of how well someone was performing these tests, dismissing the unfair and bias scoring scale used by law enforcement.

Mr. Ward’s defense will almost certainly examine the circumstances behind the   initial officer’s stop of his vehicle.  Anytime there are multiple officers involved in the stop of an automobile, yellow flags go up for an experienced DUI attorney examining the case.  Georgia courts are constantly revisiting issues dealing with police officer jurisdictional questions, and whether particular groups of law enforcement have the authority to make a stop or arrest.  In the Hines Ward arrest, the initial observations and stop of the vehicle were made by a MARTA transit officer, not a DeKalb County Police Officer.  This transit officer almost certainly has zero to minimal training in DUI detection and traffic law.  However, the Georgia courts seemingly bend over backwards to validate the stop of a DUI driver, and will likely find that if this MARTA transit officer was simply POST certified, that this is enough to allow him to make traffic stops, whether on or off MARTA property.  Georgia courts have recently held that POST certified officers have more latitude and authority to make arrests when they have witnessed a violation of law take place.  However, this initial stop and its validity will still play a part in the Ward defense.