Dui Arrest In Az

Location: Maricopa County, Arizona, USA

Hello, I am just curious about a DUI arrest on my mother in law on Saturday night.

She was driving and the cop pulled her over, she believed it was for a broken tail light but did not state anything about the tail light, they said she was swerving. She was sober. Completely. She does not drink or do drugs anymore. She does take prescribed pain killers at times but had not in a few days.

They had her do a field sobriety test on the road but did not go over the results. Just arrested her and took her to the station. When she got there, they told her they were doing another field sobriety test to “try and prove the other cop wrong.” The breathalyzer was 0.00.

They asked for a blood test and she said no. She has terrible veins and did not want them poking her like that without giving her any reason they wanted it. Other than swerving which she doesn’t understand when they’d have seen her swerving at all. They did not mention any other reason they believed she was impaired.

They wound up finding a vein in her foot and took blood. Said they’d keep poking until they got it. Unfortunately she did not know to ask for a warrant. She was not told what would happen if she refuses. When I had a blood test for a DWI in the same county I had to sign an implied consent form explaining I understand what happens if I refuse and such. I do not know if that is standard or necessary for blood tests but she did not sign a form. She did not sign anything and never consented to the test. She was bullied into it and told they would get it no matter what.

They also kept asking her if she used meth. Now, I will say that she used to and she does have that look so part of me wonders if they saw the tail light and pulled her over but saw how she looks and wanted to use something that’d allow the testing to be done.

Is it standard to do two field sobriety tests? The first was the standard three (gaze, walk and turn, one leg stand) the second was all of that again, breathalyzer and they had her do several eye tests in a room with a star on the wall and a red light (I apologize, she’s older and did not explain it well so I’m unsure if that is enough to know what the tests were)

Also, is it lawful to do the blood test without a warrant after she said no? And is that implied consent form needed for the blood draw? I read online that she was supposed to be told about the test and what the refusal would result in (the license suspension and such) but they did not do that either.

Does this sound legal? I am wanting to request the camera footage and such but is there anything else I should be requesting and would this be worth trying to fight?

Thank you in advance. I am hoping this all makes sense. she’s much older and I truly don’t think she knows exactly what was being done and why. She’s never had a DUI or been suspected of one previously and I only know based on one time I’d been arrested for one (dismissed due to clean tests and I’d just barely failed the tests as I just suck at the balancing period) and I know each cop and PD may differ so we don’t have much to compare her experience.