Any peace officer who has been duly authorized to make arrests for violations of laws of this state or ordinances of any city or village may require any person who has in his or her actual physical control a motorboat or personal watercraft under propulsion upon the waters of this state to submit to a preliminary test of his or her breath for alcohol concentration if the officer has reasonable grounds to believe that such person is under the influence of alcohol or of any drug or has committed a violation of section 37-1254.01 or 37-1254.02. Any person who refuses to submit to such preliminary breath test or whose preliminary breath test results indicate an alcohol concentration in violation of section 37-1254.01 shall be placed under arrest. Any person who refuses to submit to such preliminary breath test shall be guilty of a Class III misdemeanor.

Attorney's Note

Under the Nebraska Statutes, punishments for crimes depend on the classification. In the case of this section:
ClassPrisonFine
Class III misdemeanorup to 3 monthsup to $500
For details, see Neb. Rev. Stat. § 28-106

Terms Used In Nebraska Statutes 37-1254.09

  • Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
  • Motorboat: shall mean any watercraft propelled in any respect by machinery, including watercraft temporarily equipped with detachable motors, but shall not include a vessel which has a valid marine document issued by the Bureau of Customs of the United States Government or any federal agency successor thereto. See Nebraska Statutes 37-1204
  • Peace officer: shall include sheriffs, coroners, jailers, marshals, police officers, state highway patrol officers, members of the National Guard on active service by direction of the Governor during periods of emergency, and all other persons with similar authority to make arrests. See Nebraska Statutes 49-801
  • Person: shall mean an individual, partnership, limited liability company, firm, corporation, association, or other entity. See Nebraska Statutes 37-1207
  • Personal watercraft: shall mean a class of motorboat less than sixteen feet in length which uses an internal combustion engine powering a jet pump as its primary source of motive propulsion and is designed to be operated by a person sitting, standing, or kneeling on the watercraft rather than in the conventional manner of boat operation. See Nebraska Statutes 37-1204.01
  • State: when applied to different states of the United States shall be construed to extend to and include the District of Columbia and the several territories organized by Congress. See Nebraska Statutes 49-801
  • Waters of this state: shall mean any waters within the territorial limits of Nebraska. See Nebraska Statutes 37-1206