A judge dismissed a DWI charge against a police captain after the man was pulled over at a checkpoint. His blood alcohol content measured at 0.08, and he was charged with driving while intoxicated.

The captain, though, twice requested that his attorney be present for the breathalyzer test administered to him. According to court documents, the police captain called his lawyer who told him he could make it to the breathalyzer test. Both requests were denied, and the judge dismissed the man's traffic violation based on this infringement of personal rights.

The man has been with his department since 1989 and just received his promotion to captain in 2010. He was placed on administrative leave two days after his arrest, but details regarding his potential reinstatement were not available.

The role of criminal defense in these types of cases is not just to fulfill your right to an attorney. Criminal defense checks the power and processes of police departments and authorities from compromising a proper investigation, from violating your personal and criminal rights during an arrest (and thereafter) and from infringing on due process. Without criminal defense, the authorities could unjustly and improperly arrest whoever they wanted and egregiously pursue an investigation despite lacking key pieces of evidence or probable cause.

So when this captain has his traffic violation dismissed, it may sound like he is just getting off on a technicality. But that could not be further from the truth - those we entrust to protect us must do so properly, and a judge determined that was not the case with this charge.

Source: The Dispatch, "DWI charge on TPD captain dismissed," David Bodenheimer & Darrick Ignasiak, Jan. 27, 2012