The hand pat test is one of many field sobriety tests that police may have used in your Los Angeles DUI investigation. Although you may have thought that the officer was using the test to decide whether to arrest you on a Los Angeles DUI charge, that is unlikely. That decision is typically made before the test even begins. Field sobriety tests merely serve as a tool to establish probable cause to arrest you and to generate evidence for a DUI court case. However, this evidence can be contested by an experienced Los Angeles DUI attorney from The Kavinoky Law Firm.
An officer administering the hand-pat test in a Los Angeles DUI investigation will instruct you to extend one hand with your palm up and place the other hand on top, palm down. You must then pat your bottom hand with your top hand, while switching the top hand's position from palm down to palm up between pats. You must count out loud with each pat.
While you're performing the test, the officer is watching for signs of intoxication, such as beginning the test too soon, not following instructions, not counting as directed, not patting your hand as directed, and stopping the test before being told to do so. The officer will also note any statements you make while performing the test.
The hand pat test used in Los Angeles DUI investigations shouldn't be called a test at all, because it's impossible to pass if the officer has already decided that you'll fail. Police and prosecutors view the hand-pat test as an accurate assessor of mental and physical impairment related to alcohol intoxication, but it's inherently flawed because it relies heavily on physical dexterity.
Any test that depends on physical dexterity doesn't accurately assess intoxication, because experts agree that alcohol intoxication always causes mental impairment before any physical impairment occurs. If you don't display any mental impairment, any physical impairment must stem from a cause other than alcohol.
An experienced Los Angeles DUI lawyer will demonstrate during an aggressive cross-examination of the arresting officer that poor performance on the hand pat test could have been caused by injury, illness, or a nervous-system disorder, and isn't evidence of alcohol intoxication.
The hand pat test is so subjective that it isn't even recognized as a standardized field sobriety test by the National Highway Safety Traffic Administration (NHSTA.) The NHTSA doesn't endorse these non-standardized field sobriety tests as accurate indicators of alcohol or drug impairment because they lack objective scoring systems.
Ultimately, field sobriety tests such as the hand-pat test are open to challenge. If you took a field sobriety test during a California drunk driving investigation, you should consult with an experienced Los Angeles DUI attorney from The Kavinoky Law Firm, who can plan a strategy to effectively fight drunk driving charges.
