The traffic stop should be challenged any time the officer's stated reason for the stop is weak, pretextual, or unsupported by squad-cam video. Illinois requires reasonable articulable suspicion of a traffic violation or criminal activity for any stop under the Fourth Amendment and Terry v. Ohio. Common weak-stop scenarios include lane deviations within the lane, brief signal-light lapses, subjective claims of weaving, and equipment violations the video does not corroborate. A Chicago DUI lawyer reviews the squad video against the officer's report line by line. If the stop was unlawful, everything that followed (field sobriety tests, breath results, statements) gets suppressed as fruit of the poisonous tree. That often ends the case.
