did you just run a stop sign I mean stop what you mean do filter BR on her I mean cuz she didn't have those sunglasses on till you pulled up and The Sun Ain't Even out right here if you think that being falsely arrested can't happen to you then you have to watch this video showing my client being arrested for DUI even though she was Stone Cold Sober this can and does happen to innocent people across the country my client was a bus driver for the city of Bluefield West Virginia she was completely sober but her bus was pulled over and and she was arrested in front of all her passengers M Ellie come here and talk to me for a minute what I feel like we should do um to cause less trouble for the people on the bus probably should call somebody to let them uh let them come get the people off the bus real quick because I'm going to run you through Phil s test okay yeah this bus is not running right now so they're they're going to call somebody else come get to come get everybody how was she arrested and then charged with DUI even though she had had no alcohol she had no other in against in her system whatsoever this egregious body cam shows just how it happened her pup are really really super small hey just go up here and be like hey did you did he get your uh insurance card and registration card and look at her eyes yeah she she just now put them on she didn't have sunglasses on a minute ago I told her to take them off I mean they you mean you filter BR on her I mean cuz she didn't have her sunglasses on till you pulled up and The Sun Ain't Even out right here so what are we going to do about it well we just filed a federal law suit in October of 2022 my client Yolanda Elliott was driving a Bluefield Area Transit bus when she ends up getting pulled over by a Bluefield police officer for running a stoplight after making the stop officer green of the Bluefield Police Department approached the vehicle the bus and directed Miss Elliot to produce her driver's license registration and proof of insurance she promptly complied and then green returned to his Cruiser did you just run a stop I mean stoplight no it was green sir it was it was red no sir my light was green cuz I pulled out right behind my bus yeah well it was red because because when when we was getting ready return our light was green and we had to wait on your bus to get out the middle of the road to go through it someone need your license and the information to this bus bus she would later be arrested and in the police report officer green claimed that he observed Miss Elliot having quote droopy eyelids slow low and raspy speech and constricted pupils but does the body cam footage confirm those assertions God I seen your hand go up and I was like yeah it was completely red what in the world yeah like the car in front of me tried to go but they had to wait on you to get out of the middle of the intersection cuz our light was green that's why I seen my bus go cuz we had just had the lights time the bus might have been running it too going in front of you might have been yellow where's my and you're have to bear with me okay here it is but yeah my light was green that's why I went I never run a red light was right there I mean it wasn't green that's the thing I mean if it was green on the bridge but when you went under it it was completely red because it was it was our light was green which means your light was red for a good 5 seconds because we had to wait on you to get out of the middle intersection for our our bu I was paying I'm so sorry cuz I I mean the light turned green CU we stopped at the red light it was green I mean it was red when we were sitting there at the red light I had to stop and then the light turned and that's why we all win all right give me a second another police officer officer Engel then arrived on the scene he began assisting officer green officer green asked officer Engel to have Miss Elliott exit the vehicle and to then ask her a few questions while he was running her information look me real quick look out that way kind of like look out like this way no right here see that that yellow mon sign look right there 215 or 216 212 ride down here real quick her people are really really really super small she go back on a y Yolanda Elliot I mean they think they're exemp from getting pulled over but I mean obviously her light was completely green which means her light was red and she went through the middle intersection we had to wait on her to get out of the intersection before our line could even move oh hey just go up here and be like hey did you did he get your uh insurance card and registration card and look at her eyes I don't know she had sunglasses on when I walked up there yeah yeah she she just now put them on she didn't have sunglasses on a minute again I told her take them off I mean they they look more constricted than mine yeah when I looked at his I made him look the same direction she was looking and his his are about a half a size almost to a whole size bigger than hers is or hers was she's got a speeding ticket what did you stop it for she ran [ __ ] red I mean the yeah red light we was sitting there and uh there's a car in front of me and then right before uh I mean our light turned green and we couldn't pull out because she was coming through the middle of the intersection oh just that huh he like [ __ ] I just w h that probably got drugs on him huh they probably got dope on him I mean the way she was talking kind of like me do filter BR on her I mean cuz she didn't have those sunglasses on until you pulled up you just run the stop sign I mean stop light no it was green sir it was it was red no sir my light was green cuz I pulled out right behind my bus yeah well it was red because because when when we was getting ready turn our light was green and we had to wait on your BS bust the guy the middle of the road to go through it someone need your license and the information to this bus bus please and and the sun Ain even out right here the sun Ain even out right here and uh yeah her her peoples are more constricted than his were his was red light specialist right there I mean it wasn't green that's the thing I mean if it was green on the bridge go ahead look up a Yolanda Elliot Yolanda Elliot inis see if we have anything hey green hey she's got a lot of things on there but nothing for traffic all right so no DUI or nothing like that any drugs uhuh uhuh okay all righty I appreciate it no problem all right bye bye she's got a long history nothing d y right why everybody's off I just ordered my food from McDonald's too walk down the unic no like for Virginia one so he'll be walking for a little while hey she gets out on this side huh she gets out on this side blue 26 that's going to be a negative copy after Running Room foration officer green approached meliot and asked her if she had taken any medication or drugs she advised that she had taken prescriptions for ambient and percocet and had properly taken both as prescribed by her physician which last occurred at approximately 8:30 p.m. the night before so this stop was occurring at approximately 9:55 a.m. more than 12 hours after she had taken her prescribed medication Miss ell come here and talk to me for a minute won't you turn your face this way for me all right wait from my son okay all right um do you take any kind of medication whatsoever I do what you take well I want you to be honest with me okay when I ask you this during the day I don't take nothing okay at night time I take Ambien and I take percep okay so how long AG go since it was since you took the per sets be honest with me I'm trying to think I took it about 8:30 last night 8:30 last night yeah okay I'm not worried about anything y'all can do I mean y y'all need to do or anything like that well this this is issue I'm having is when I come up and talk to you people are are really really constricted I didn't sleep good last night well I'm going to be honest with you sleep has nothing to do with your people okay after learning that meliot had taken the medication in the night before the stop officers green and Engle then proceeded to run Miss Elliot through several field sobriety tests and after completing those tests officers green and Engle alleged that Miss Elliot had performed poorly and that she had failed the tests but again does the body cam footage confirm those assertions okay all right um so um what I feel like we should do um to cause less trouble for the people on a bus should call somebody to let them uh let them come get the people off the bus real quick because I'm going to run you through F SB test okay okay and then we're going to go from there all right you want me to call my boss call somebody let let them know you got a bus out here and you you got stop by the well what what about this bus right here this is what I want you to do okay turn well that's all right stand like care okay put your feet together Hands On by your side for me okay just hands out by your side just like this I've never done until spr test never never all right well there's a first for everything okay you can see the tip of this pen right I can all right I want you to watch the tip of that pen with just your eyes only don't move your head okay okay you get to the man you me got all right one more time okay all right next thing I'm going have you do okay um is just another balance test all right well first off I guess we can do it right here it's pretty the uh modified rumberg oh yeah we'll do it right here we'll do the other test down there all right so what I want you to do take your hands out of your pockets put your feet together for me all right when I tell you to begin all right I'm going to tell you to tilch your head back you're going to touch your head all the way back okay okay um when you tilch your head back you're going to close your eyes when you close your eyes I'm going to tell you to begin all right when I tell you to begin I want you to estimate the passage of 30 seconds in your head okay all right once you once you get to 30 seconds in your head you're going to tilt your head back down and say stop all right and that's going to be into that part of that test okay okay let me get it let me say this again I'm going to tilt my head back count assume 30 seconds til my head back close my eyes assume 30 seconds then set my head back up open my eyes and stop yep right y okay all right so go ahead and tilt your head back and close your eyes yep you good take your sunglasses off all right tilt your head back and close your eyes for me okay all the way back grab again ch stop all right how long was that let say 30 seconds you say 30 seconds all right how'd you get the 30 I counted how'd you count one two three okay four all right cool good deal next thing we have you do is called the finger and the nose test okay like I said you going to keep your feet together I heard about this one there you go well what you know about it kind of sort of like that you ain't going to put your arms out like an airplane though all right but I want don't you to do I want you to make a fist and turn your palms towards me down just like this there you go take your pointer fingers and stick them straight out to the ground all right stand like that until I instruct you to do otherwise okay all right when I tell you to begin it's kind of similar like to the old the the last test we've done okay you going to tilt your head back and I'm going to have you close your eyes all right when I instruct you to imagine that the tip of my knuckle here is the tip of your nose and obviously this is the tip of your finger okay exactly like this you going to come up if I if I tell you your right hand or your left hand you're going to bring your right hand up touch tip of your nose come back down immediately without me telling you to okay so if I say right hand you'll come up touch tip of it bring straight back down without me telling you to okay all right just say right hand and I T my I'm I'm going to explain it to you as we go through it okay okay all right go ahead and touch your head back close your eyes for me okay til your head back a little bit more there you go left hand right hand left hand right hand right hand left hand okay all right so what I want you to do I want you to put your we're going to which way I facing I don't like that line at all actually but no I'm just looking at this line all right you can see the edge of this line right here right straight line but it's not it's it's not the straightest line but that's that's what we're going to go off of for right now okay so what you're going to do basically just keep your foot on the inside of that line like that right there I want you put your left foot on that left yep left foot on that line I want you put your right foot directly in front of your left foot in a h or toe Manner and I want you to stand just like like that there you go and the heel to toe that's it keep your hands on by your side which side which side line you're fine just stay on that line okay what I want you to do stand like that until I tell you to do otherwise okay okay all right I want I want you to watch me all right I do okay I do go ahead begin for me one 2 three four 5 6 7 8 9 pick arms up holding on to his H pants oh miss old toe steps offline on eight all right all right yeah yeah all right put your feet together Hands On by your side for me okay next test I'm going to have you do is called the one leg stand test okay what I want you to do want you pick whichever foot you want to use I want you to pick it up approximately 6 in off the ground keeping your foot parallel with the ground okay it's going to look exactly like this you six approximately 6 in don't start until I tell you to okay all right it's going to approximately be 6 in off the ground parallel with the ground with you toe point it out I want you to look at the tip of your toe while you do this test okay I want you to count out loud for me 1,1 1,2 13 and so on until I tell you to stop okay keep in mind I want you to watch the elevated foot count out loud for me keep both hands down by your side keep both legs straight um and don't don't stop the test until I said it's completed you understand I think so all right you don't count I'm just hold my leg out you don't count me stop yep you just you just count out loud for me like I told you to okay I count out loud yep like I told you to okay all right you ready to begin go ahead1 10002 20034 10056 10078 1009 B down1 20134 20156 17 2018 2019 2020 okay 20 seconds I heard 30 all right you walk over here with me real quick okay so what are you going to have in this bag you got any of your medications in here you care if my officer takes look in there oh I don't care okay I mean I've got a bunch of junk in here all right well just lay just lay you at to the side and he'll go through it okay okay just lay it to side for me I'm about to freeze all right so you said the last time you took the the the perer sets was it 8:30 last night yeah you don't know when last night though yeah it was like about 8:30 last night it before I went to bed what time did you go to bed it was about 8:30 what time how long I didn't go to sleep uh I was still awake it about you took the Ambi and didn't go to sleep no I didn't go to sleep last night I just couldn't go to sleep I was TOs and turning my did you take any of it this morning no no I didn't take nothing this morning I had you don't care if I look at no I don't care I won't you do me a favor and just sit right here on this curb right here for me okay you're going to be placed under arrest for DUI okay do what yes ma'am so I'm going to give you an option um we can go to the uh the hospital and we can have a blood draw you can consent to a blood draw Y and we'll go ahead and do that I can do that okay all problem all right I appreciate it here's the thing Miss Elliot told the officers that she held a valid commercial driver's license wherein she had been medically approved to drive a bus on her prescribed medications but the officers instead just took it upon themselves to rely on their own Incorrect and uninformed medical opinions about her medications concluding that she must be legally intoxicated as a result of having consumed her prescribed prescription I medications the previous evening yeah listen to me you cannot you have a job to drive people around for a living right you cannot take perco setes and ambient and drive then why did the doctor put it on my CD the doctors do that I don't know why they do that it's not legal for you to drive they should tell you night time you should not drive period once you've taken that medication it takes a while for that medication to come out of your come out of your system yeah cuz I just had my CDL done last month did you do a drug test then yeah I mean I I can show you my CDL I have nothing to hide from y'all I mean I've never done come up on a drug test where'd you do the test at Doctor uh John where did I do my CDL CDL what's his name uh Princeton CDL what I do where I doct test physical did she do a Dr test ner okay he he done all of it and U well you want to take your sunglass off put them in your pocket so they don't drop and he did he did every bit of it and uh everything's listed on my CDL and they had to get my my my family doctor to come back and sign off on it well they dropped the ball because you ain't supposed to take it and drive okay go ahead and turn around for me I'm going have to go and turn around put your hands on you back Miss Elliott begged officer green to look at her CDL documentation which actually authorized her to drive well on her prescribed Percocet and ambient that he was complaining about however officer green refused to even look at it and defiantly and ignorantly said well they dropped the ball referring to the doctors because you ain't supposed to take it and drive well they dropped the ball because you ain't supposed to take it and drive okay then officer green ordered Melia to turn around so that he could place her in handcuffs had officer green who I don't believe has any medical degree of any sort even bothered to look at meliot CDL documentation he would have observed that she had in her possession written authorization from a medical doctor a quote certified do medical examiner finding her qualified to serve as a licensed commercial driver while taking her lawfully prescribed medicines including per ccoet and ambient in fact the examination and report from the medical doctor had just been issued to Miss Elliot several months earlier in August but instead of reviewing that CDL documentation that was available at the scene or requesting additional information from any Source the officers proceeded to perform a warrantless arrest of Miss Elliot for allegedly driving under the influence of a controlled substance as well as for the charge of being a commercial driver driving with a blood alcohol concentration of 400 of 1% or more given the fact that Miss Elliot had been on duty driving a Bluefield Area Transit bus her numerous passengers were removed from the bus none of whom were even questioned by the officers regarding whether or not Miss Elliot had exhibited any signs of being intoxicated Miss Elliot's boss from the city of Bluefield had arrived on the scene during the arrest and the officers told the boss that Miss Elliot had been driving intoxicated while transporting the public that she had been consuming intoxicating substances that had rendered her intoxicated as she drove members of the public around on the Bluefield city bus and that she had failed field soety tests all of that was false during the arrest officer green asked Miss Elliot if she would consent to having her blood drawn for testing she agreed and was taken to Princeton community hospital where this procedure was performed then she was taken to the Bluefield Police Department where she was processed get this the blood test results would subsequently come back negative for any intoxicating substances but that didn't come back until November 6 of that year well after the arrest took place subsequently of course the false DUI charges against meliot were dismissed but that didn't happen until September 22nd of 2023 almost a year later she did enter a guilty plea to the traffic violation of failure to obey a stoplight but again the DUI charges that were false were all dismissed and even though during the entirety of this stop melliot was fully Cooperative with the officers and exhibited absolutely zero signs of being under the influence of alcohol or any other intoxicating substance because she wasn't even though all of that was true she was fired from her job as a driver with the city of Bluefield she never did get it back therefore recently we filed a federal civil rights lawsuit under section 1983 we alleged that there was a false warrantless arrest and also a malicious prosecution because she was still prosecuted for those false DUI charges for even a year after this egregious stop took place and this goes to showed that this can happen to anybody in fact it was just in the news that over the last few years there have been over 600 people in Tennessee who were completely sober but were arrested for DUI in my opinion this is the most likely scenario for your everyday person to be subjected to a false arrest I don't doubt that sometimes reasonable mistakes could occur but where they do occur they should be made right ASAP and where they were not made right like in this case you need to seek Justice and accountability which we're doing so if you want to follow along Please Subscribe both here and at my blog at the Civil Rights lawyer.com and and you'll stay updated you can also follow me on Twitter @ John brryan Esq also called the civil rights lawyer there remember our rights don't end where your fear begins freedom is scary deal with it