PRINTWeb site: DWI tests are a bust
Drivers argue that unfair methods lead to inaccurate charges
Courtesy of Stock.XCHNG
June 5, 2008 | 12:00 a.m. CST
Receiving a DWI carries serious consequences, but one Web site says that DWI tests are not accurate — some people can’t even pass them sober. According to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, a person weighing at least 120 pounds can have two drinks in his or her system when driving and generally have a legally “safe” blood alcohol content (BAC) level. Yet even these drivers are often pulled over and slapped with a DWI, which Missouri issues to drivers impaired exclusively by alcohol (DUIs are given to those influenced by other substances, often in combination with alcohol).
The Missouri State Highway Patrol’s statistical analysis center shows that their number of DWI arrests hit their highest level in 2006, the most recent year with available statistics. Although Columbia Police Department Captain Zim Schwartze says, “We’re not going to haul somebody in in our handcuffs unless we know we have an impaired driver,” drivers haven’t stopped proclaiming their innocence and fighting DWI charges in court. Helping them is 1800dialdui.com, which has published a list of 15 ways to beat a DWI arrest in Missouri. But how legitimate are these strategies? Vox looks at four of the site’s defenses.
4.9 percent
of all Missouri traffic crashes were alcohol-related.
25.1 percent
of all fatal Missouri traffic crashes were alcohol-related.
Every 1.6 hours
one person was killed or injured in a alcohol-related traffic crash in Missouri.
60.3 percent
of Missouri alcohol-related crashes occurred on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday.
78 percent
of Missouri drivers who had been drinking were male.
Source: Statistics from Missouri State Highway Patrol
Unreliable sobriety tests
The field sobriety test generally consists of three evaluations. First is the walk and turn test, during which drivers walk nine heel-to-toe steps on a road line, turn and walk nine heel-to-toe steps back as the officer measures his or her balance. Next is the one-leg stand test, during which a driver stands on one leg for 30 seconds while an officer measures his or her balance. In the final test, the officer holds a penlight a foot away from the driver’s eyes, moves it back and forth and tells the driver to follow with his or her eyes. The officer looks for involuntary twitching in an eye turned at an angle less than 45 degrees, which indicates a high BAC. The Web site claims that a healthy, sober person only has a 65 percent chance to pass the one-leg stand test and a 68 percent chance to pass the walk and turn test. These tests are not valid for certain people, including those over the age of 65, more than 50 pounds overweight or with back, neck, leg and middle-ear injuries.
DWI defense attorney Robert Murray agrees that the procedures are flawed. “They’re all designed to cause imbalance and make you appear intoxicated,” he says. “They’re having you do unnatural things to measure something that should be natural.”
Jerry Eames, owner of ESCAPE outpatient chemical dependency center, also thinks the physical tests are flawed. “I see a lot of odd stuff where people really can’t maintain their balance if they were sober doing somewhat the same stuff,” he says. Schwartze counters that the three tests that make up the standardized field sobriety test are reliable. “Those tests have proven that a person who is not impaired can reasonably perform those tests,” she says. Officers don’t use field sobriety tests as the sole determining factor in their decision to take suspects to jail but instead look at the “totality of the circumstances,” Schwartze says.
According to Murray, the tests are voluntary. “All you have to do when you’re stopped, you have to identify yourself: license, registration, proof of insurance,” he says. He adds that your constitutional right against self-incrimination (the Fifth Amendment) allows you to refuse the tests.
Illegal stop
An officer must either witness a driving violation or have reason to believe the car or driver has a connection to a police case in order to pull the driver over.
1800dialdui.com states that an illegal stop, such as a pull-over made on the basis of an anonymous tip, can get a DWI charge dismissed because it violates the driver’s rights.
Schwartze confirms police must follow a set of criteria in deciding to stop a driver. “We have to have, obviously, a reason,” she says. “We can’t just say ‘I think that person’s drunk.’” However, Murray says unlawful stops do still occur. “(The police) are vigorously driving around at midnight, 1 o’clock in the morning,” he says. “They assume if you’re on the road at that point, you’re impaired. And given any reason whatsoever to stop you, they will.”
Interfering substances
The Breathalyzer measures the amount of alcohol in a person’s system by determining his or her blood alcohol level.
“False Missouri DWI breath tests may be caused by many items, such as asthma spray, cough drops, paints, or fingernail polish, which contain forms of alcohol,” reads the site’s entry.
Murray agrees and says the claim that Breathalyzers only measure ethanol alcohol is wrong. Eames, however, says that Breathalyzers only measure BAC through the excess carbon dioxide produced as alcohol exits your system, and things like chocolate and cigarettes do not affect this level. Schwartze concurs. “It does not matter what you have eaten or what is in your system,” she says. “That does not affect the reading on the machine.” Finding Breathalyzers accurate by design, Eames says that the only arguments against them are whether they are functioning properly and being used correctly.
Inaccurate breath testing
After a driver is arrested, he or she is taken to the police station and evaluated by an officer for an “observation period” before taking the Breathalyzer test.
Because a person’s BAC changes over the time elapsed since they drank, the breath test administered at the police station will not give the same result as it would if it were done at the scene. Missouri DWI law requires that drivers charged with DWIs be intoxicated when they drive. The BAC measured is not the same as it would be when the drivers were using the vehicle. Therefore, the test is inaccurate.
None of the experts dispute this argument. “The issue isn’t where you’re at at the police station,” Murray says of a person’s BAC. “It’s where you were at when you were operating the motor vehicle.” Schwartze notes that officers are required to observe suspects for a certain amount of time before administering the breath test. She also says that a simpler, portable breath test is often used at the scene to determine if any alcohol is in the driver’s system.
