Saw these great breath test videos on YouTube. I mentioned them on my other blog recently, but thought they deserved their own post. For those who believe in the Breathalyzer, these videos will give you something to think about.
The first video demonstrates the problem of mouth alcohol. I've seen this myself at a seminar. The individual swigs something with alcohol in his mouth (like Scope, or in this case I think it's Vodka) and spits it out. A few minutes later he blows into the machine and registers an outrageously high number.
The second video starts off similar -- an initial 0.00 BAC. Then the guy chews on Wonder Bread for 5 minutes, and he blows a 0.025 BAC. In other words, no alcohol at all and he's halfway to what some cops would ticket (improperly) for DWAI. I can only guess that the sugars and/or starches mix with the yeast and ferment quickly.
The moral of this story: Breath tests are unreliable. I've seen too many cases where the BAC doesn't fit the rest of the story.
We have a case going right now where our client blew a 0.17. That's close to falling-down drunk. The cop car had video, and the guy looks totally sober. Not to mention that he was going more than 30mph over the limit and handled the car well. He passed the One-Leg Stand and Walk-and-Turn tests.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
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1 comments:
Warren,
I agree that breath tests are unreliable, but I would prefer to see videos that attack the administration of the breath test.
These two videos completely ignore the "20 minute" rule, and would not be admissible in court.
If you can find videos that show inaccurate tests administered as required by law, I'm definitely interested. But these videos are a side show. They may help to convince a small subset of the public of the inaccuracy of these machines, but they do nothing to help attorneys or defendants facing a possibly unreliable breath test result.
I'd rather see an inaccurate result after the test was administered as required by law.
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