Question: Do police officers exagerate their reports in Savannah?
Answer: Police officers are notorious, especially around Savannah, for exaggerating in their reports. They, what they will do is they will write something in their report about a case and say that, “Oh, this defendant was unsteady on his feet, he was stumbling, he was slurring.” The best thing about that is, nine times out of 10, there’s a camera, there’s a video of that. And one of the first things that I like to do is get the video. We can find out a lot from that. And what I have been able to do in the past, if we can do it early enough in the case, is get the video and actually have the officer watch it with me, and sometimes the prosecutor if that’s necessary. And just say, “Ok, you said that he was stumbling and slurring, but here’s the video and he appears steady to me. And I can understand him, there’s no slurring in his speech.” And if you can get the officer to exaggerate or straight out lie, many times, and show that there’s something inconsistent with the video evidence that can go a long way in beating a DUI.