On every Labor Day weekend, Atlanta downtown turns into a whole new world. Tens of thousands of passionate fans, elaborate cosplayers, and convention-goers bring Dragon Con to the center of the city like no other event, filling the streets, hotel lobbies, and bars with an energy that is unmatched. As much as the weekend is an enormous festival of pop culture, it is also a time of high scrutiny by local law enforcement. It is hard enough to sift through the sheer numbers of people and roadblocks, but the presence of such large numbers of police implies that driving in the downtown area during the convention is accompanied by an increased possibility of being pulled over and arrested on criminal charges.
Downtown atmosphere when Dragon Con is going on is special due to the amount of people celebrating on a compact grid of hotels. The Atlanta Police and the Georgia State Patrol are all too conscious of the fact that alcohol is free flowing all through the weekend. To control the mayhem, the police often establish sobriety checkpoints on the fringe of the major convention area. When you are driving along Peachtree Center, Marriott Marquis, or Hilton there is great likelihood that you will run into roadblock late at night.
You must know what is within the limits of officers at the time you are at a checkpoint, and also what your rights are in such an instance. At these checkpoints, the police have the right to randomly stop cars and conduct checks of the validity of documentation and elementary indicators of impairment. They are however not allowed to make you leave your car or to undergo field sobriety tests unless they have come up with a probable cause that you are drunk driving.
The probable cause can be determined in a very short time in the chaotic atmosphere of Dragon Con. An officer may say that they can smell that the vehicle is smelling of alcohol or that they see you have blood shot eyes or that you are fumbling to find your license. Even your costume may unwittingly make things difficult. A large mask, heavy makeup or elaborate prosthetics would make it hard to determine your usual physical condition, and exhaustion after walking around the convention all day could be easily confused with drunkenness. Should an officer request you to get out of the car to do some roadside gymnastics, bear in mind that these are completely voluntary tests under the law of Georgia. You are entitled to refuse the eye-test, the walk and turn and the one leg stand with grace and dignity and without any administrative repercussions on that particular refusal.
It is even more complex when you are an out of state visitor, which constitutes a huge part of the Dragon Con attendance. A common misconception that many tourists have is that since they are heading back to Florida, Alabama or the Carolinas after the weekend, they will not be followed home with a Georgia traffic charge. It is a harmful myth. Almost every state is a member of an interstate compact and as such, Georgia will refer to your arrest, and any subsequent convictions, directly to the department of motor vehicles in your home state. The Georgia incident can then cause your local driver to have his license suspended by your own state.
Moreover, when you are arrested in Atlanta, you cannot just turn a blind eye to the Georgia court dates, simply because you are living hundreds of miles far. Missing a scheduled court appearance in Fulton County will lead to a bench warrant to have you arrested, which will show up in any background check, or subsequent traffic stop, no matter which state you are in. Dealing with an out of state charge needs a legal officer who is able to handle the local court system in your place.
When you end up in handcuffs after a weekend of panels and parties, the first thing that you should do is to find a qualified Atlanta DUI Lawyer. A local legal advocate is knowledgeable of the particular procedures of the Atlanta Police Department and the court system in Fulton County. They are able to intervene to make the required administrative appeals to save your driving license and represent you in court, which can save you the hassle and the cost of having to fly back to Georgia to make minor hearings.
It takes a keen understanding of procedural mistakes to defend against a charge resulting of a convention weekend. A qualified Atlanta DUI Lawyer will examine the legality of even the existence of the checkpoint in the first place, and will make sure that the law enforcement officers met the rigid constitutional requirements involved in establishing roadblocks. In case the checkpoint was not conducted in an appropriate manner or in case the officer did not have any actual probable cause to make the arrest during the traffic in the downtown, your legal team would be able to make motions to have the evidence against you suppressed. Do not allow a lapse in judgment at Dragon Con to spoil your record. The best thing to do is to engage a good legal representation that will tackle the situation quietly and effectively to enable you to get back to your normal life.
