The officer used a penlight. Is this a field sobriety test?
If the officer moved the penlight in front of your face and asked you to follow it with your eyes, this is the "horizontal gaze nystagmus" test, which is supposed to test for being under the influence of alcohol. The officer attempts to estimate the angle at which the eye begins to jerk ("nystagmus" is medical jargon for eye jerking); if this occurs sooner than 45 degrees, it theoretically indicates an excessive blood-alcohol concentration. The smoothness of the eye's tracking the penlight (or finger or pencil) is also a factor, as is the jerking when the eye is as far to the side as it can go.
This field sobriety test has proven to be subject to a number of different problems, not the least of which is that the non-medically trained officer's ability to recognize nystagmus and estimate the angle of onset. Because of this, and the fact that the medical community does not accept the test, it is not admissible as evidence in many states. It continues, however, to be widely used by law enforcement.
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