An officer asking to check a driver’s license at a DUI checkpoint is lawful

• DUI Checkpoints
• Checking Driver’s Licenses at DUI Checkpoints
• Excessive Force in Making an Arrest

DUI checkpoints, so long as properly conducted, are constitutional.  Requiring the driver of a car stopped at a DUI checkpoint to display his driver’s license is also constitutional. Using a minimal amount of physical force to arrest a driver with probable cause to believe he is driving without a valid driver’s license, at least when he has been verbally uncooperative up to that point, is lawful.

Plaintiff David Demarest, while visiting California from his home state of Vermont, drove up to a DUI (Driving while Under the Influence) checkpoint set up by officers of the Vallejo Police Department.  The checkpoint was located near the intersection of Sonoma Blvd. and Solano Ave., a location chosen because of a significant number of DUI-related collisions occurring in the area.  Having set up the checkpoint pursuant to an advance “DUI Checkpoint Operation Plan,” it was appropriately marked by signs reading: “DUI AND DRIVERS LICENSE CHECKPOINT AHEAD” and “HAVE YOUR DRIVERS LICENSE READY.” In addition to these signs, other safeguards were employed; i.e., “the area was coned off,” “traffic [was] slowed and directed to a single lane,” “there was portable lighting in the area,” and “police vehicles were at the checkpoint with [their] emergency lights on.”

A press release announcing the checkpoint was issued two days in advance and was reported on the website of a local newspaper. Under the prearranged checkpoint plan, a “neutral formula” was used under which “all vehicles will be stopped unless the backup exceeds 5 minutes,” in which case “all vehicles will be waived through until the backup is cleared.” At the checkpoint, which was operated from approximately 6:00 PM until ....