| Vanny 2006-02-23, 11:48 am |
| http://www.duiblog.com/2006/02/13
Bad Drunk Driving Laws, False Evidence and a Fading Constitution
High Breathalyzer Readings from Acid Reflux
Bryan is presently facing criminal charges for driving under the influence
of alcohol. Except that he wasn't under the influence of alcohol. He had one
drink after work and was stopped at a DUI sobriety checkpoint on the way
home. The officer smelled the alcohol on his breath and asked Bryan to step
out of the car to take some field sobriety tests. He did fairly well on the
tests but, just to be sure, the officer asked him to breathe into the breath
machine that had been set up at the checkpoint. The results: .12%. Bryan was
arrested for DUI, handcuffed and taken to jail; his license was immediately
confiscated and he was served with a notice of automatic suspension. When
finally released six hours later, he was given a notice to appear in court
for arraignment on drunk driving charges.
What happened? How could Bryan have only consumed one beer but registered
..12% on the machine?
Well, to begin with, breath machines (commonly referred to as
"Breathalyzers", although there are many competing makes and models) are
notoriously inaccurate and unreliable (see "How Breathalyzers Work -- and
Why They Don't"). Calibration, maintenance, malfunctions and use by
inexperienced or poorly trained officers are always problems. And there are
inherent design defects, such as being non-specific for alcohol -- that is,
they don't actually measure alcohol; due to the nature of infrared analysis,
they will report thousands of other compounds as "alcohol" (see "Why
Brethalyzers Don't Measure Alcohol".) Yet another recurring problem imouth
alcohol. .
What is "mouth alcohol" -- and how could this have caused Bryan's false
reading? The machine measures alcohol on the breath, and an internal
computer then multiplies the reading 2100 times to get a reading of alcohol
in the blood. This is because the amount of alcohol in the blood is greatly
reduced as it crosses from the blood into the alveolar sacs of the lungs and
into the breath; the average person has 2100 times more alcohol in his blood
than in his breath (this varies widely among individuals, however, and is
another inherent defect in the machines -- see "Convicting the Average
Person").
But what if the alcohol in the breath sample did not come from the lungs?
What if the alcohol came from Bryan's mouth or throat? Then it will not have
been processed through the body, into the blood and finally out through the
lungs -- and it will not have been reduced 2100 times. But the machine,
being a machine, will always multiply it 2100 times. Result: false high
reading and Bryan is facing DUI charges.
So what was alcohol doing in Bryan's mouth or throat?
Well, alcohol will usually stay in the tissue of the oral cavity or
esophagus for about 15 minutes until it is finally diluted and flushed down
into the stomach by saliva. So if Bryan had "one for the road" just before
being tested, he could have a problem. Or the alcohol could have become
trapped in dentures or gum cavities and lasted much longer. Bryan may have
burped or belched within 15 minutes before taking the test, sending up
alcohol from the beer in his stomach into his mouth and esophagus. But what
actually happened was that Bryan suffers from a very common condition: GERD,
or gastroesophageal reflux disease. This causes acid reflux, often
experienced as heartburn.
Acid reflux is often caused by a hiatal hernia - damage to the pyloric valve
separating the stomach from the esophagus. When the valve cannot close
completely, then liquids and gasses from the stomach can rise into the
throat and oral cavity, to remain there until once again flushed back down.
Since a bout of acid reflux can be caused by stress, it is not unusual to
find that people stopped by police officers for suspicion of DUI and
subjected to field sobriety tests experience the condition.
Bryan is now ordered to breathe into the machine's mouthpiece. With alcohol
from his stomach now rising into and permeating his mouth and throat, it is
mixed with the breath passing from the lungs through the throat and mouth
and into the machine. Since this alcohol is being multiplied by the machine
2100 times, it takes only a tiny -- invisible -- amount of absorbed alcohol
to cause a disproportionately high reading. In Bryan's case, an "innocent"
reading of perhaps .02% became a "guilty" .12%. Result: Bryan lost his
driver's license....and now has to try to prove his innocence in court.
Prove his innocence? Aren't we presumed innocent in America? Here we have
the notorious "DUI exception to the Constitution" again. Strangely, Bryan is
not presumed to be innocent as we all thought: almost all state laws legally
presume a person is under the influence of alcohol if if the machine's
reading is .08% or higher.
Yes, we have a system where citizens are convicted by a machine....A very
fallible machine.
Posted by Lawrence Taylor on 02/13/2006 Discuss Trackback [0]
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