Criminal OWI DUI Charges

Criminal Prosecution vs. License Suspension

The actual arrest for the criminal offense of operating while intoxicated starts the process for the criminal prosecution.

what happens during an owi arrest?

Typically, a police officer will administer field sobreity tests, and then ask you to perform a breath tests by blowing into a breathalyzer. The police officer may also ask you to submit to a blood test.

Giving someone a citation for the charge is the same as if the person had been formally arrested and made to post bond the following morning. 

when is the criminal charge filed?

The majority of the time the criminal charge is filed at the same time that the license suspension proceedings are also started.  However, there are situations where test results are not available that same night or morning and thus, the officer and/or prosecuting attorney elect to wait for the results to be returned before filing the criminal charge.  This is most likely to happen in cases involving accidents where blood is drawn or when urine samples are requested to test for drugs. 

There are also times where a prosecutor declines to file charges in a test refusal case where they do not believe the remaining evidence that they have is sufficient to obtain a conviction.  In those situations the person avoids the criminal charge but the Department of Transportation still suspends the persons driving privileges if they legally refused chemical testing.

Learn about license suspension.