Posted by the Charleston, SC DUI Lawyers at Anderson & Schuster, Attorneys at Law, LLC. Our Charleston DUI attorneys defend drivers charged with DUI and DUAC in Charleston, North Charleston, Mount Pleasant, Summerville and across the South Carolina lowcountry. If you are charged with DUI, our Charleston DUI Attorneys will discuss your DUI arrest with you free of charge.
In a typical DUI investigation, drivers arrested for DUI are taken to a police facility and given the opportunity to provide a breath sample. Pursuant to South Carolina's DUI laws, breath tests administered as the result of a DUI arrest must be video recorded. The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) stores every breath test video on a server and provides online access for law enforcement, drivers charged with DUI, and DUI defense attorneys. A user must enter a unique ID and password to access a particular, so if you have been arrested for DUI your breath test video is not accessible by the general public.
On July 5th, lightning struck a transformer on the SLED campus in Columbia, destroying a server that contained thousands of videos created as a result of DUI arrests.
"We never lost any data, everything is backed up everything is still secure," said Thom Berry with SLED. Berry says they are now in the process of bringing that server back online. "We have hundreds and thousands of files on that server so it's not a situation where you can just throw a switch and everything comes back immediately." They hope to have the problem fixed by August 9th.
These DUI videos are crucial pieces of evidence for both DUI prosecutors and DUI defense lawyers. Without the videos, many pending DUI cases cannot move forward. SLED is required to make the DUI videos and other records concerning the Datamaster, South Carolina's approved DUI breath testing device, available to law enforcement, defendants, and their lawyers via the internet or some other source.
The Charleston DUI Defense Lawyers at Anderson & Schuster, Attorneys at Law, LLC help those arrested for DUI in Charleston, North Charleston, Mt. Pleasant, Summerville, Goose Creek, Hanahan, Moncks Corner, James Island, West Ashley, Folly Beach, Sullivans Island, Isle of Palms, Awendaw, McClellanville and the surrounding areas. Contact our North Charleston DUI Defense Lawyers to discuss your case today.
Source: WLTX.com, DUI Videos Knocked Offline by Lightning Strike
