[Correction: A video originally posted with this report identified the wrong officer. The Gilbert Police Department has multiple officers with the same last name. The video has been updated.]
During a roadside DUI investigation, Gilbert police officer Andrew Templeton had a “trick” up his sleeve.
Templeton had just handcuffed a driver who exercised his right to refuse a breathalyzer test and then told him that he needed to check one more thing.
“I need to take a look at your eyes real fast. Can you just close your eyes and tilt your head back for me?” Templeton asked.
The driver complied.
Templeton then took out his breathalyzer and placed it front of the driver’s face to get a reading. When it detected the presence of alcohol, the sergeant told the driver to open his eyes.
“Oh look, positive for alcohol. I’m not an idiot,” he said.
WATCH FOOTAGE OF THE STOP IN THE VIDEO PLAYER ABOVE
The March 2021 traffic stop was captured on body camera video, and the driver’s defense attorney said it raises serious questions about Templeton’s tactics and our constitutional rights during investigations.
“I’ve asked many colleagues, and no one has ever seen what they saw in this video,” said defense attorney Chris Doran. “I think this is deception at its finest… He creates this whole ruse.”
Doran represents Cody Mattner, who was pulled over for driving 40 in a 30-mph zone. He was later arrested and charged with misdemeanor DUI.
“It’s hard to go back and watch that video because it brings back the feeling of being tricked,” Mattner said. “I had never been arrested. I don’t really know my rights, what he’s allowed to do, what he’s not allowed to do, so I feel like I was tricked.”
Templeton used the breathalyzer to get what’s known as a “passive sample.”
Passive samples are not done by directly blowing into a tube connected to the instrument. They detect the presence of alcohol in the air.
The use of the passive sample in this case raises unique and rare questions about drivers’ rights.
In Arizona, drivers can initially refuse breathalyzer and field sobriety tests. If police have enough evidence, officers can ask a judge for a search warrant to draw a driver’s blood.
“The police departments have all the resources in the world,” Doran said. “He’s already under arrest, so they can go and take him back to the station and get a search warrant and draw his blood…there’s no reason for them to do this.”
The Gilbert Police Department would not comment on the specifics of the case.
A spokesperson sent a statement, saying the department doesn’t have a policy covering this issue.
“The use of a Preliminary Breath Test instrument to collect an open-air sample to identify the presence of alcohol is neither listed in nor forbidden by our policy,” according to the statement. “Officers are trained to use Preliminary Breath Test instruments to detect the presence of alcohol in the air, such as the air emanating from unidentified beverages within an open container.”
In his body camera video, Templeton touts his experience and methods when talking to Mattner at the scene.
“Do you think I’m an idiot?” said Templeton as he begins pointing to his unmarked police vehicle. “That doesn’t look like any typical patrol car does it? I work on a DUI unit. This is all I do. This is what I do. This is what I teach. This is my job.”
Mattner’s case is ongoing, and Doran plans to push the passive breath test as part of his defense.
“It almost seems like it’s his ego, that he wants to make sure that he’s getting this right. And he will go to any length to do that,” Doran said.
In response to issues about constitutional rights, Gilbert’s statement said, “As prosecution is still pending, no further comment will be provided regarding this incident, but the defendant's attorney has raised this issue within the case and the court has yet to rule that a Constitutional violation occurred.”
Contact ABC15 Chief Investigator Dave Biscobing at Dave@ABC15.com.
