In New Jersey a motorist suspected for driving under the influence of alcohol is required to submit to breath testing upon police request. It should be noted that a person charged with refusing to take a breath test, for the most part, faces consequences similar to a charge of DWI. This blog discusses refusal in the context where the subject agrees to taking a breath test but during the actual test is viewed by the police officer as less the submissive, so to speak. In other words, what does the Alcotest operator do when he/she feels the subject is attempting to evade the test. It simple, Refusals:
A refusal can be performed in one of two ways: if the subject refuses to take test prior to submission then officer press’s “R” on Alcotest and a refusal action is triggered by breath test machine or Alcotest. If the subject refuses after providing an invalid sample (i.e. not enough air or blowing air for to short of a period, etc) then the officer will have the option of pressing #2 prompt on machine namely refusal prompt. At that time, the New Jersey motorist would be charged with a DWI and Refusal. As such, any person seeking to avoid a refusal charge must provide a valid breath sample because he/she will not “beat” the machine because there are procedures in place to prevent that type of behavior.
