Friday, March 24, 2006
Public Intoxication - Austin cops raid bars to check
AUSTIN, Texas – Get fall-down drunk in a Texas bar and it may cost more than a bruised backside. Try $500 or a few hours in jail.
The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission is sending undercover officers into bars to look for the exceedingly drunk, issuing citations or making arrests for public intoxication even if the patrons haven't left the building.
“Drinking is fine,” said agency spokeswoman Carolyn Beck. “But when people drink too much, they become dangerous to themselves and other people.”
The program is aimed at reducing drunken driving. According to Mothers Against Drunk Driving, Texas had 1,264 alcohol-related traffic fatalities in 2004, the most in the nation.
The crackdown is aimed not only at those who are drunk, but at the bars and bartenders who continue to serve them. So far, it has resulted in about 2,200 arrests or citations around the state.
B.J. Hassell, manager of victims services with MADD Texas State, which serves central Texas, said her organization supports the crackdown.
“Can you imagine if TABC had not stopped those people from leaving the bar, how many more drunk drivers we might have had on the road?” Hassell said.
The most recent sting was March 10, when agents infiltrated more than 30 bars in the Dallas suburb of Irving, arresting or citing dozens of people.
In Texas, the blood alcohol limit for drunken driving is .08 percent. But the law also defines public intoxication as “not having the normal use of mental or physical faculties” because of alcohol or other drugs.
Public intoxication is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $500. An offender can be cited or arrested. Many jails require that someone arrested be detained for at least four to 12 hours.
Bar patrons may be approached if an officer spots them behaving erratically, such as having difficulty walking or standing. The officer will perform a field sobriety test similar to one for drunken drivers. A patron may also be asked to take a breath test, although it is not required, Beck said.
Most people who take the breath test have a blood alcohol level of .17 or higher, she said. “These people who are being arrested are really drunk,” she said. “We're not going up to random people.”
And just having a designated driver isn't an excuse to get knee-wobbling drunk.
Beck cited a recent case in El Paso where a man staggered into traffic and was killed, and a student on spring break at South Padre Island who tried to jump into a hotel pool from a second-floor window. He missed and died.
Beck acknowledged many people may be surprised to learn they can be arrested for being drunk in a bar.
“We are trying to get the message out that we want bars to sell responsibly and consumers to consume responsibly,” she said.
The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission is sending undercover officers into bars to look for the exceedingly drunk, issuing citations or making arrests for public intoxication even if the patrons haven't left the building.
“Drinking is fine,” said agency spokeswoman Carolyn Beck. “But when people drink too much, they become dangerous to themselves and other people.”
The program is aimed at reducing drunken driving. According to Mothers Against Drunk Driving, Texas had 1,264 alcohol-related traffic fatalities in 2004, the most in the nation.
The crackdown is aimed not only at those who are drunk, but at the bars and bartenders who continue to serve them. So far, it has resulted in about 2,200 arrests or citations around the state.
B.J. Hassell, manager of victims services with MADD Texas State, which serves central Texas, said her organization supports the crackdown.
“Can you imagine if TABC had not stopped those people from leaving the bar, how many more drunk drivers we might have had on the road?” Hassell said.
The most recent sting was March 10, when agents infiltrated more than 30 bars in the Dallas suburb of Irving, arresting or citing dozens of people.
In Texas, the blood alcohol limit for drunken driving is .08 percent. But the law also defines public intoxication as “not having the normal use of mental or physical faculties” because of alcohol or other drugs.
Public intoxication is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $500. An offender can be cited or arrested. Many jails require that someone arrested be detained for at least four to 12 hours.
Bar patrons may be approached if an officer spots them behaving erratically, such as having difficulty walking or standing. The officer will perform a field sobriety test similar to one for drunken drivers. A patron may also be asked to take a breath test, although it is not required, Beck said.
Most people who take the breath test have a blood alcohol level of .17 or higher, she said. “These people who are being arrested are really drunk,” she said. “We're not going up to random people.”
And just having a designated driver isn't an excuse to get knee-wobbling drunk.
Beck cited a recent case in El Paso where a man staggered into traffic and was killed, and a student on spring break at South Padre Island who tried to jump into a hotel pool from a second-floor window. He missed and died.
Beck acknowledged many people may be surprised to learn they can be arrested for being drunk in a bar.
“We are trying to get the message out that we want bars to sell responsibly and consumers to consume responsibly,” she said.
San Diego DUI - Red "DUI" license plate for repeat offenders?
California - Red tags of shame for DUI cases?
- sacbee.com
... Assemblyman Ray Haynes, R-Murrieta, displays a mock license plate in his Capitol
office that he believes should be affixed to vehicles driven by repeat DUI offenders.
- sacbee.com
... Assemblyman Ray Haynes, R-Murrieta, displays a mock license plate in his Capitol
office that he believes should be affixed to vehicles driven by repeat DUI offenders.
Monday, March 20, 2006
DUI in the morning - Breakfast buzz
You go out to drink on work night with friends and get a ride home, but could you be driving drunk to work the next morning?
To find out, KXAN's Jenny Hoff gathered some volunteers who drank the night away on Sixth Street.
Then she showed up the next morning to get some answers.
We got volunteers of different sizes and ages and hit several bars on Sixth Street. Now, no bar over served our volunteers, but after hitting a few places, they were definitely intoxicated and in need of taxis home which we provided.
We also provided a wake-up call the next morning consisting of me, a deputy and a breathalyzer test.
We took Haley, Michael, Armando, Brian and Amy out for a night on the town and watched as they drank, beers, shots and cocktails from 9:30 p.m. to 2 a.m. in the morning.
Brian downed 11 beers. Haley had six. Her husband Michael, had three beers and 10 cocktails.
Armando had 11 beers and two shots. Amy put away 10 mixed drinks and one beer.
"Nothing a shower and some coffee can't handle," Armando said.
We'll see about that.
Our first stop is the Cihocks, Michael and Haley. After a field sobriety test and two breathalizers, we found out the smallest one of the bunch, Haley, woke up with a BAC of 0.028.
Michael, on the other hand, blew a 0.07 more than four hours after he finished drinking and about the same time he would be heading out for work.
"It's interesting to see how the results came out, hours later and after we had already gone to sleep," Michael said.
The next stop is at Armando Enriquez's. A breathalizer showed him at a .049, but, Deputy Brian Hawn says his performance on the field sobriety test could have still put him in a squad car.
"In the state of Texas, numbers don't kill people. Impairment is what kills people," Hawn said.
But, our most surprising results came from the last house. We visited Amy and Brian almost six hours after we sent them home.
After a not so stellar sobriety test, Brian blew exactly a 0.08 -- legally drunk in the state of Texas.
Amy blew a 0.103 -- well above the legal limit.
"I guess I didn't realize how long it lasts in your system when you wake up in the morning," Amy said.
Again, it is illegal in the state of Texas to drive impaired so even if your blood alcohol concentration is just below the legal limit, you could still find yourself convicted of driving under the influence.
To find out, KXAN's Jenny Hoff gathered some volunteers who drank the night away on Sixth Street.
Then she showed up the next morning to get some answers.
We got volunteers of different sizes and ages and hit several bars on Sixth Street. Now, no bar over served our volunteers, but after hitting a few places, they were definitely intoxicated and in need of taxis home which we provided.
We also provided a wake-up call the next morning consisting of me, a deputy and a breathalyzer test.
We took Haley, Michael, Armando, Brian and Amy out for a night on the town and watched as they drank, beers, shots and cocktails from 9:30 p.m. to 2 a.m. in the morning.
Brian downed 11 beers. Haley had six. Her husband Michael, had three beers and 10 cocktails.
Armando had 11 beers and two shots. Amy put away 10 mixed drinks and one beer.
"Nothing a shower and some coffee can't handle," Armando said.
We'll see about that.
Our first stop is the Cihocks, Michael and Haley. After a field sobriety test and two breathalizers, we found out the smallest one of the bunch, Haley, woke up with a BAC of 0.028.
Michael, on the other hand, blew a 0.07 more than four hours after he finished drinking and about the same time he would be heading out for work.
"It's interesting to see how the results came out, hours later and after we had already gone to sleep," Michael said.
The next stop is at Armando Enriquez's. A breathalizer showed him at a .049, but, Deputy Brian Hawn says his performance on the field sobriety test could have still put him in a squad car.
"In the state of Texas, numbers don't kill people. Impairment is what kills people," Hawn said.
But, our most surprising results came from the last house. We visited Amy and Brian almost six hours after we sent them home.
After a not so stellar sobriety test, Brian blew exactly a 0.08 -- legally drunk in the state of Texas.
Amy blew a 0.103 -- well above the legal limit.
"I guess I didn't realize how long it lasts in your system when you wake up in the morning," Amy said.
Again, it is illegal in the state of Texas to drive impaired so even if your blood alcohol concentration is just below the legal limit, you could still find yourself convicted of driving under the influence.
Saturday, March 18, 2006
San Diego DUI - Expert's resume called in question
San Diego DUI Expert
A DUI specialist with 30 years at the San Diego County Sheriff Department’s crime lab, it was Raymond Cole’s job to explain to judges and jurors how alcohol and drugs impair drivers and how the police measure levels of intoxication. That was before authorities found out Cole wasn’t who he claimed to be—a revelation that could mean a sizeable number of the convictions he helped secure may be overturned....
According to a report written by Richard Debevec, a crime-lab supervisor, a mid-January audit of employee records revealed a discrepancy in Cole’s résumé. Cole, who claimed to have obtained a premedical degree from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1957, had actually graduated from Berkeley with a bachelor’s degree in political science...
Earlier this month, City Attorney Mike Aguirre’s office began sending letters to lawyers who may have defended clients in cases in which Cole testified. A spokesperson for District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis said her office is in the process of drafting a similar letter...
Actually locating those cases is a different matter. According to testimony from a 2003 DUI trial, Cole estimated he’d testified “well over 4,000 times” during his career, but representatives of Dumanis, Aguirre and the crime lab all say they have no way of tracking those cases. Instead, they put the responsibility for unearthing the trail of their expert witness on defense attorneys...
“That’s always the heart of perjury—that you don’t know where it stops and where it starts,” said retired Superior Court Judge Victor E. Ramirez, who said he presided over hundreds of cases in which Cole testified. “Looking back on it as a judge… the only real redress that we have is that you have to prosecute Mr. Cole for his [allegedly] perjured testimony, if in fact it can be proved.”
Ramirez and others who have worked with Cole in the past described him as a difficult witness with a history of problematic testimony...With crime-lab supervisors present, Ramirez expressed “serious concern about Mr. Cole,” who he’d previously admonished for attempting to take evidence from the courtroom. “The best that I can say… is that he has given less than complete… answers or less than thorough answers in his presentation.”...
According to a transcript of a hearing held to sanction attorney Michael Freemont for calling Cole a liar, Superior Court Judge Richard Mills, who previously faced Cole as a prosecutor and a defense attorney, declined to make a ruling regarding Cole’s testimony but said it was “at least, intentionally misleading…. I’ve been troubled by his testimony more than once…. I just can’t have this type of testimony again…. Somebody’s got to, at least, consider that it’s time to do something, if not past time.”
A DUI specialist with 30 years at the San Diego County Sheriff Department’s crime lab, it was Raymond Cole’s job to explain to judges and jurors how alcohol and drugs impair drivers and how the police measure levels of intoxication. That was before authorities found out Cole wasn’t who he claimed to be—a revelation that could mean a sizeable number of the convictions he helped secure may be overturned....
According to a report written by Richard Debevec, a crime-lab supervisor, a mid-January audit of employee records revealed a discrepancy in Cole’s résumé. Cole, who claimed to have obtained a premedical degree from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1957, had actually graduated from Berkeley with a bachelor’s degree in political science...
Earlier this month, City Attorney Mike Aguirre’s office began sending letters to lawyers who may have defended clients in cases in which Cole testified. A spokesperson for District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis said her office is in the process of drafting a similar letter...
Actually locating those cases is a different matter. According to testimony from a 2003 DUI trial, Cole estimated he’d testified “well over 4,000 times” during his career, but representatives of Dumanis, Aguirre and the crime lab all say they have no way of tracking those cases. Instead, they put the responsibility for unearthing the trail of their expert witness on defense attorneys...
“That’s always the heart of perjury—that you don’t know where it stops and where it starts,” said retired Superior Court Judge Victor E. Ramirez, who said he presided over hundreds of cases in which Cole testified. “Looking back on it as a judge… the only real redress that we have is that you have to prosecute Mr. Cole for his [allegedly] perjured testimony, if in fact it can be proved.”
Ramirez and others who have worked with Cole in the past described him as a difficult witness with a history of problematic testimony...With crime-lab supervisors present, Ramirez expressed “serious concern about Mr. Cole,” who he’d previously admonished for attempting to take evidence from the courtroom. “The best that I can say… is that he has given less than complete… answers or less than thorough answers in his presentation.”...
According to a transcript of a hearing held to sanction attorney Michael Freemont for calling Cole a liar, Superior Court Judge Richard Mills, who previously faced Cole as a prosecutor and a defense attorney, declined to make a ruling regarding Cole’s testimony but said it was “at least, intentionally misleading…. I’ve been troubled by his testimony more than once…. I just can’t have this type of testimony again…. Somebody’s got to, at least, consider that it’s time to do something, if not past time.”
Friday, March 17, 2006
California DUI - rare ferrari mysteriously crashes
Inquiry of auto crash takes twists and turns
--------------------
Rare Ferrari involved in mysterious accident
By Richard Winton and David Pierson, Tribune Newspapers: Los Angeles Times
March 17, 2006
LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's investigation into a
mysterious crash that destroyed a rare $1 million Ferrari in Malibu last month is
focusing on a videotape that was allegedly shot from inside the vehicle at the
time of the accident, according to sources close to the case.
The sources said the Ferrari's owner, Stefan Eriksson, and the other man in the
car, identified by authorities as Trevor Karney, had a video camera rolling as they
raced on Pacific Coast Highway on Feb. 21 at speeds in excess of 162 m.p.h.
Deputies who arrived at the scene did not recover any video equipment. But sources
said detectives were later told the high-speed driving was taped. The sources
spoke on the condition of anonymity because the case is under investigation.
The revelation is the latest twist in a crash that has prompted an accident
inquiry and a probe by the department's Homeland Security Division.
While no one was injured in the crash, the investigation has generated significant
attention because of the strange circumstances and the fact that it destroyed one
of only 400 Enzo Ferraris ever made.
Eriksson, a former European video game executive, told deputies at the scene that
he was not the driver and that another man, named Dietrich, was behind the wheel.
Eriksson said Dietrich fled the scene.
But detectives have been skeptical of his version of events. Investigators have
taken a swab of Eriksson's saliva to match his DNA against blood found on the
driver's side air bag of the Ferrari.
Eriksson also told deputies that he was a deputy commissioner of the police
department of a tiny transit agency in the San Gabriel Valley.
A few minutes after the crash, two men arrived, identified themselves as Homeland
Security officers and spoke to Eriksson at length before leaving.
Sheriff's Sgt. Phil Brooks said Wednesday that a few weeks before the accident,
Eriksson was pulled over in West Hollywood without a driver's license.
At that time, Eriksson told officers he was a deputy police commissioner of the
anti-terrorism unit of the San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority and showed a badge,
Brooks said.
According to Noel Hogan, a British private investigator, formerly with Scotland
Yard, Eriksson had told him he was a police officer. Hogan had been trying to
recover a Mercedes SLR worth more than $450,000 that had been reported stolen in England
and which Eriksson had in his possession.
Officials at the transit agency, which provides transportation for the disabled
and elderly from Monrovia, said Eriksson was given the title of deputy police
commissioner after undergoing a background check and offering the agency free video
security cameras for its five buses.
Eriksson left video game machine manufacturer Gizmondo last fall after a Swedish
newspaper printed allegations of his criminal past.
Brooks said Swedish police have told sheriff's investigators that Eriksson served
5 years in prison in the early 1990s for a counterfeiting-related crime.
Gizmondo, which hoped to compete with Sony and Nintendo, filed for bankruptcy
earlier this year after running up more than $200 million in debts.
Brooks said investigators were aware that a Scottish bank has claimed it owns the
Ferrari.
Eriksson could face several charges if deputies determine he was driving,
including driving while intoxicated and lying to investigators. His blood-alcohol level
was found to be 0.09 percent, above the 0.08 percent legal limit in California.
--------------------
Rare Ferrari involved in mysterious accident
By Richard Winton and David Pierson, Tribune Newspapers: Los Angeles Times
March 17, 2006
LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's investigation into a
mysterious crash that destroyed a rare $1 million Ferrari in Malibu last month is
focusing on a videotape that was allegedly shot from inside the vehicle at the
time of the accident, according to sources close to the case.
The sources said the Ferrari's owner, Stefan Eriksson, and the other man in the
car, identified by authorities as Trevor Karney, had a video camera rolling as they
raced on Pacific Coast Highway on Feb. 21 at speeds in excess of 162 m.p.h.
Deputies who arrived at the scene did not recover any video equipment. But sources
said detectives were later told the high-speed driving was taped. The sources
spoke on the condition of anonymity because the case is under investigation.
The revelation is the latest twist in a crash that has prompted an accident
inquiry and a probe by the department's Homeland Security Division.
While no one was injured in the crash, the investigation has generated significant
attention because of the strange circumstances and the fact that it destroyed one
of only 400 Enzo Ferraris ever made.
Eriksson, a former European video game executive, told deputies at the scene that
he was not the driver and that another man, named Dietrich, was behind the wheel.
Eriksson said Dietrich fled the scene.
But detectives have been skeptical of his version of events. Investigators have
taken a swab of Eriksson's saliva to match his DNA against blood found on the
driver's side air bag of the Ferrari.
Eriksson also told deputies that he was a deputy commissioner of the police
department of a tiny transit agency in the San Gabriel Valley.
A few minutes after the crash, two men arrived, identified themselves as Homeland
Security officers and spoke to Eriksson at length before leaving.
Sheriff's Sgt. Phil Brooks said Wednesday that a few weeks before the accident,
Eriksson was pulled over in West Hollywood without a driver's license.
At that time, Eriksson told officers he was a deputy police commissioner of the
anti-terrorism unit of the San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority and showed a badge,
Brooks said.
According to Noel Hogan, a British private investigator, formerly with Scotland
Yard, Eriksson had told him he was a police officer. Hogan had been trying to
recover a Mercedes SLR worth more than $450,000 that had been reported stolen in England
and which Eriksson had in his possession.
Officials at the transit agency, which provides transportation for the disabled
and elderly from Monrovia, said Eriksson was given the title of deputy police
commissioner after undergoing a background check and offering the agency free video
security cameras for its five buses.
Eriksson left video game machine manufacturer Gizmondo last fall after a Swedish
newspaper printed allegations of his criminal past.
Brooks said Swedish police have told sheriff's investigators that Eriksson served
5 years in prison in the early 1990s for a counterfeiting-related crime.
Gizmondo, which hoped to compete with Sony and Nintendo, filed for bankruptcy
earlier this year after running up more than $200 million in debts.
Brooks said investigators were aware that a Scottish bank has claimed it owns the
Ferrari.
Eriksson could face several charges if deputies determine he was driving,
including driving while intoxicated and lying to investigators. His blood-alcohol level
was found to be 0.09 percent, above the 0.08 percent legal limit in California.
California DUI - rare ferrari mysteiously crashes
Inquiry of auto crash takes twists and turns
--------------------
Rare Ferrari involved in mysterious accident
By Richard Winton and David Pierson, Tribune Newspapers: Los Angeles Times
March 17, 2006
LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's investigation into a
mysterious crash that destroyed a rare $1 million Ferrari in Malibu last month is
focusing on a videotape that was allegedly shot from inside the vehicle at the
time of the accident, according to sources close to the case.
The sources said the Ferrari's owner, Stefan Eriksson, and the other man in the
car, identified by authorities as Trevor Karney, had a video camera rolling as they
raced on Pacific Coast Highway on Feb. 21 at speeds in excess of 162 m.p.h.
Deputies who arrived at the scene did not recover any video equipment. But sources
said detectives were later told the high-speed driving was taped. The sources
spoke on the condition of anonymity because the case is under investigation.
The revelation is the latest twist in a crash that has prompted an accident
inquiry and a probe by the department's Homeland Security Division.
While no one was injured in the crash, the investigation has generated significant
attention because of the strange circumstances and the fact that it destroyed one
of only 400 Enzo Ferraris ever made.
Eriksson, a former European video game executive, told deputies at the scene that
he was not the driver and that another man, named Dietrich, was behind the wheel.
Eriksson said Dietrich fled the scene.
But detectives have been skeptical of his version of events. Investigators have
taken a swab of Eriksson's saliva to match his DNA against blood found on the
driver's side air bag of the Ferrari.
Eriksson also told deputies that he was a deputy commissioner of the police
department of a tiny transit agency in the San Gabriel Valley.
A few minutes after the crash, two men arrived, identified themselves as Homeland
Security officers and spoke to Eriksson at length before leaving.
Sheriff's Sgt. Phil Brooks said Wednesday that a few weeks before the accident,
Eriksson was pulled over in West Hollywood without a driver's license.
At that time, Eriksson told officers he was a deputy police commissioner of the
anti-terrorism unit of the San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority and showed a badge,
Brooks said.
According to Noel Hogan, a British private investigator, formerly with Scotland
Yard, Eriksson had told him he was a police officer. Hogan had been trying to
recover a Mercedes SLR worth more than $450,000 that had been reported stolen in England
and which Eriksson had in his possession.
Officials at the transit agency, which provides transportation for the disabled
and elderly from Monrovia, said Eriksson was given the title of deputy police
commissioner after undergoing a background check and offering the agency free video
security cameras for its five buses.
Eriksson left video game machine manufacturer Gizmondo last fall after a Swedish
newspaper printed allegations of his criminal past.
Brooks said Swedish police have told sheriff's investigators that Eriksson served
5 years in prison in the early 1990s for a counterfeiting-related crime.
Gizmondo, which hoped to compete with Sony and Nintendo, filed for bankruptcy
earlier this year after running up more than $200 million in debts.
Brooks said investigators were aware that a Scottish bank has claimed it owns the
Ferrari.
Eriksson could face several charges if deputies determine he was driving,
including driving while intoxicated and lying to investigators. His blood-alcohol level
was found to be 0.09 percent, above the 0.08 percent legal limit in California.
--------------------
Rare Ferrari involved in mysterious accident
By Richard Winton and David Pierson, Tribune Newspapers: Los Angeles Times
March 17, 2006
LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's investigation into a
mysterious crash that destroyed a rare $1 million Ferrari in Malibu last month is
focusing on a videotape that was allegedly shot from inside the vehicle at the
time of the accident, according to sources close to the case.
The sources said the Ferrari's owner, Stefan Eriksson, and the other man in the
car, identified by authorities as Trevor Karney, had a video camera rolling as they
raced on Pacific Coast Highway on Feb. 21 at speeds in excess of 162 m.p.h.
Deputies who arrived at the scene did not recover any video equipment. But sources
said detectives were later told the high-speed driving was taped. The sources
spoke on the condition of anonymity because the case is under investigation.
The revelation is the latest twist in a crash that has prompted an accident
inquiry and a probe by the department's Homeland Security Division.
While no one was injured in the crash, the investigation has generated significant
attention because of the strange circumstances and the fact that it destroyed one
of only 400 Enzo Ferraris ever made.
Eriksson, a former European video game executive, told deputies at the scene that
he was not the driver and that another man, named Dietrich, was behind the wheel.
Eriksson said Dietrich fled the scene.
But detectives have been skeptical of his version of events. Investigators have
taken a swab of Eriksson's saliva to match his DNA against blood found on the
driver's side air bag of the Ferrari.
Eriksson also told deputies that he was a deputy commissioner of the police
department of a tiny transit agency in the San Gabriel Valley.
A few minutes after the crash, two men arrived, identified themselves as Homeland
Security officers and spoke to Eriksson at length before leaving.
Sheriff's Sgt. Phil Brooks said Wednesday that a few weeks before the accident,
Eriksson was pulled over in West Hollywood without a driver's license.
At that time, Eriksson told officers he was a deputy police commissioner of the
anti-terrorism unit of the San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority and showed a badge,
Brooks said.
According to Noel Hogan, a British private investigator, formerly with Scotland
Yard, Eriksson had told him he was a police officer. Hogan had been trying to
recover a Mercedes SLR worth more than $450,000 that had been reported stolen in England
and which Eriksson had in his possession.
Officials at the transit agency, which provides transportation for the disabled
and elderly from Monrovia, said Eriksson was given the title of deputy police
commissioner after undergoing a background check and offering the agency free video
security cameras for its five buses.
Eriksson left video game machine manufacturer Gizmondo last fall after a Swedish
newspaper printed allegations of his criminal past.
Brooks said Swedish police have told sheriff's investigators that Eriksson served
5 years in prison in the early 1990s for a counterfeiting-related crime.
Gizmondo, which hoped to compete with Sony and Nintendo, filed for bankruptcy
earlier this year after running up more than $200 million in debts.
Brooks said investigators were aware that a Scottish bank has claimed it owns the
Ferrari.
Eriksson could face several charges if deputies determine he was driving,
including driving while intoxicated and lying to investigators. His blood-alcohol level
was found to be 0.09 percent, above the 0.08 percent legal limit in California.
Monday, March 13, 2006
San Diego DUI - Prosecutor's Criminalist Witness Gets Fired
RESUME ERROR MAY SCUTTLE CONVICTIONS
San Diego Alerts Lawyers in Scores Of Driving Cases
SAN DIEGO - The San Diego city attorney's office is notifying defense lawyers that a veteran criminalist who testified frequently in drunken-driving trials incorrectly listed a science degree on his résumé.
The letter from the city attorney's senior discovery attorney, Amanda Fates, was mailed this week and says the information about Ray Cole is being provided under statutory and constitutional obligations to disclose "an error."
A lawyer who defends clients charged with driving under the influence said questions about Cole's qualifications could affect convictions in thousands of cases.
'In Jeopardy'
"It puts every case in jeopardy," said Mike Fremont of the Front Line Law Group in Carlsbad. "Once they have been identified, all of them should be reversed."
Another drunken-driving defense specialist said the disclosure taints Cole's testimony, making it a target if cases must be retried.
"If you're willing to lie under oath about one thing, you'd be willing to lie about another," said San Diego lawyer Mary Frances Prevost.
Records Audit
Cole could not be immediately located for comment.
Gregory Thompson, the sheriff's director of forensic services, said Cole, who is in his 70s, retired after questions about his résumé arose.
Thompson said that when Cole was hired in 1974, a science degree wasn't required for a criminalist. Now a science degree is necessary, he said.
The city attorney's office, which prosecutes city drunken-driving cases, did not respond to requests for comment.
Paul Levikow, a spokesman for District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis, said the office is aware of the discrepancies in Cole's résumé but still is considering what action to take. The office tries cases in the county that are outside of the city limits. Cole has testified in many of those cases, Levikow said.
The problem arose when a quality assurance manager for the sheriff's crime laboratory discovered what she described as "an error" in Cole's résumé. While performing as audit of employee records, the manager said, she found that the résumé stated Cole earned a degree from the University of California, Berkeley, in pre-medical studies. But, she said, a degree confirmation service found that his degree in 1957 was in political science.
In a report accompanying the letter being sent to lawyers, the city attorney's office said that during a Jan. 19 meeting with the lab's supervising criminalist Cole confirmed "his degree was in political science and that his résumé was incorrect."
On Jan. 24, after a second meeting with Cole and top lab officials, "Mr. Cole was counseled that it was his responsibility to ensure accuracy in his résumé and that he was not to testify in future cases," according to the report.
Public Defender Steven J. Carroll said his office was reviewing the matter.
"Generally speaking, I don't think his qualification as an expert depended on his undergraduate degree," Carroll said. "It depended on everything he's done since then."
Fremont said the district attorney and San Diego city attorney should notify defense lawyers of every case in which Cole testified over the two decades he has been a sheriff's criminalist.
The offices should concentrate, Freemont said, on those cases that would have been close without Cole's testimony. Those cases should be voided, he said, even if a convicted driver has served his entire sentence. The effects of a drunken-driving conviction follow a person for years, he said.
San Diego Alerts Lawyers in Scores Of Driving Cases
SAN DIEGO - The San Diego city attorney's office is notifying defense lawyers that a veteran criminalist who testified frequently in drunken-driving trials incorrectly listed a science degree on his résumé.
The letter from the city attorney's senior discovery attorney, Amanda Fates, was mailed this week and says the information about Ray Cole is being provided under statutory and constitutional obligations to disclose "an error."
A lawyer who defends clients charged with driving under the influence said questions about Cole's qualifications could affect convictions in thousands of cases.
'In Jeopardy'
"It puts every case in jeopardy," said Mike Fremont of the Front Line Law Group in Carlsbad. "Once they have been identified, all of them should be reversed."
Another drunken-driving defense specialist said the disclosure taints Cole's testimony, making it a target if cases must be retried.
"If you're willing to lie under oath about one thing, you'd be willing to lie about another," said San Diego lawyer Mary Frances Prevost.
Records Audit
Cole could not be immediately located for comment.
Gregory Thompson, the sheriff's director of forensic services, said Cole, who is in his 70s, retired after questions about his résumé arose.
Thompson said that when Cole was hired in 1974, a science degree wasn't required for a criminalist. Now a science degree is necessary, he said.
The city attorney's office, which prosecutes city drunken-driving cases, did not respond to requests for comment.
Paul Levikow, a spokesman for District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis, said the office is aware of the discrepancies in Cole's résumé but still is considering what action to take. The office tries cases in the county that are outside of the city limits. Cole has testified in many of those cases, Levikow said.
The problem arose when a quality assurance manager for the sheriff's crime laboratory discovered what she described as "an error" in Cole's résumé. While performing as audit of employee records, the manager said, she found that the résumé stated Cole earned a degree from the University of California, Berkeley, in pre-medical studies. But, she said, a degree confirmation service found that his degree in 1957 was in political science.
In a report accompanying the letter being sent to lawyers, the city attorney's office said that during a Jan. 19 meeting with the lab's supervising criminalist Cole confirmed "his degree was in political science and that his résumé was incorrect."
On Jan. 24, after a second meeting with Cole and top lab officials, "Mr. Cole was counseled that it was his responsibility to ensure accuracy in his résumé and that he was not to testify in future cases," according to the report.
Public Defender Steven J. Carroll said his office was reviewing the matter.
"Generally speaking, I don't think his qualification as an expert depended on his undergraduate degree," Carroll said. "It depended on everything he's done since then."
Fremont said the district attorney and San Diego city attorney should notify defense lawyers of every case in which Cole testified over the two decades he has been a sheriff's criminalist.
The offices should concentrate, Freemont said, on those cases that would have been close without Cole's testimony. Those cases should be voided, he said, even if a convicted driver has served his entire sentence. The effects of a drunken-driving conviction follow a person for years, he said.
DUI Defense Lawyers Challenge Breath Test
DUI Defense Lawyers Challenge Breath Test
Sat Mar 11
MIAMI - Timothy Muldowny's lawyers decided on an unconventional approach to fight his drunken driving case: They sought computer programming information for the Intoxilyzer alcohol breath analysis machine to see whether his test was accurate.
Their strategy paid off.
The company that makes the Intoxilyzer refused to reveal the computer source code for its machine because it was a trade secret. A county judge tossed out Muldowny's alcohol breath test — a crucial piece of evidence in a DUI case — and the ruling was upheld by an appeals court in 2004.
Since then, DUI suspects in Florida, New York, Nebraska and elsewhere have mounted similar challenges. Many have won or have had their DUI charges reduced to lesser offenses. The strategy could affect thousands of the roughly 1.5 million DUI arrests made each year in the United States, defense lawyers say.
"Any piece of equipment that is used to test something in the criminal justice system, the defense attorney has the ability to know how the thing works and subject its fundamental capabilities to review," said Flem Whited III, a Daytona Beach attorney with expertise on DUI defense.
The Intoxilyzer, manufactured by CMI Inc. of Owensboro, Ky., is the most widely used alcohol breath testing machine in the United States and is involved in the vast majority of these legal challenges. It is used exclusively by law enforcement agencies in 20 states, including Florida, and by at least some police agencies in 20 other states, according to the company.
Most states have "implied consent" laws for motorists requiring DUI suspects to blow into a breath analysis machine if asked to do so by a police officer.
"The breath test is an integral part of any prosecution," said Earl Varn, an assistant state attorney in Sarasota.
In Florida, state law currently considers a breath test valid if the machine is approved by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the person administering the test is qualified. The law also says that a defendant is entitled to "full information concerning the test taken" if such a request is made.
The meaning of that phrase is the key to the DUI challenges in Florida and other states with similar laws.
DUI defense lawyers insist that "full information" means every minute detail about the Intoxilyzer, including the source code used by its computer processor to analyze breath samples, should be subjected to review by expert defense witnesses. Some judges have agreed.
"It seems to us that one should not have privileges and freedom jeopardized by the results of a mystical machine that is immune from discovery," Florida's 5th District Court of Appeal ruled in Muldowny's case, which resulted in his charges being reduced to reckless driving.
Judges in the Florida counties of Manatee, Sarasota, Seminole and Volusia counties are among those who have ruled in recent months that the defense was entitled to the Intoxilyzer's source code to see if the test results are reliable.
There also have been successful legal challenges involving the source code of other machines, including a 2005 case in Bellevue, Wash., in which a defense lawyer obtained the code of the BAC Datamaster testing machine, sold by National Patent Analytical Systems Inc.
But many judges in Florida have ruled the opposite way on the Intoxilyzer, including a panel in Palm Beach County that recently denied challenges by 1,500 DUI defendants who sought the source code under state public records laws.
The tactic has led lawmakers to introduce a measure in the Florida Legislature to clarify that such source codes don't have to be produced for DUI defendants.
Last November, a similar challenge in Omaha, Neb., was rejected on grounds that Nebraska did not have the source code. In Rochester, N.Y., a DUI suspect whose lawyer was seeking the source code was convicted of a lesser charge when the technician who maintained the machine was unavailable to testify.
Because CMI has refused to divulge its source code, Florida officials have argued in court that they cannot produce it for DUI defendants. Although most state judges have upheld that view, others have not.
"The state may not wash its hands of its duty to produce this information by claiming that it does not have it," Volusia County Court Judge Mary Jane Henderson ruled in December.
FDLE officials say that even if the state had access to the source code it would not necessary to test the validity of the breath results. Laura Barfield, alcohol testing program manager at FDLE, said each of the 408 Intoxilyzer 5000s used in Florida — soon to be replaced by the 8000 model — are regularly run through painstaking tests at the state and local levels.
"You don't need the source code to know the machine is providing accurate results," Barfield said.
For its part, CMI said there is no evidence that its Intoxilyzer is inaccurate, noting that a review of 80,000 tests in a 2002 Arizona case produced no evidence of mistakes.
In a statement to The Associated Press, the company said also said the source code is not a crucial element in proving the Intoxilyzer's accuracy and is a proprietary trade secret that could create havoc if computer hackers obtained it.
"Exposure of the source code could not only be detrimental to CMI from a commercial standpoint, but it could also be detrimental to customers of CMI," the company said. "Disclosure of this information could compromise the integrity of test data that is stored in the instrument."
The conflicting decisions around Florida could land the issue before the state Supreme Court. Florida lawmakers may act before that, however.
A bill making several changes to DUI law includes a section clarifying that the "full information" about breath tests does not include the "manual, schematics or software" of the breath machine or any information "in the possession of the manufacturer." The bill is moving through state House committees and could pass later this year.
Prosecutors such as Varn say if the defense challenges prevail it would mean each DUI breath test could be subjected to exhaustive analysis.
"We would have to hire an expert to come in and testify in every case to explain the function of the instrument and what the test results mean," Varn said.
But defense lawyers say DUI defendants have the constitutional right to confront their accuser, even if it is a machine.
"If everything is OK and there's nothing to hide, why do they want to change the law?" said Stuart Hyman of Orlando, a leading DUI defense lawyer who represented Muldowny. "It's ludicrous."
Sat Mar 11
MIAMI - Timothy Muldowny's lawyers decided on an unconventional approach to fight his drunken driving case: They sought computer programming information for the Intoxilyzer alcohol breath analysis machine to see whether his test was accurate.
Their strategy paid off.
The company that makes the Intoxilyzer refused to reveal the computer source code for its machine because it was a trade secret. A county judge tossed out Muldowny's alcohol breath test — a crucial piece of evidence in a DUI case — and the ruling was upheld by an appeals court in 2004.
Since then, DUI suspects in Florida, New York, Nebraska and elsewhere have mounted similar challenges. Many have won or have had their DUI charges reduced to lesser offenses. The strategy could affect thousands of the roughly 1.5 million DUI arrests made each year in the United States, defense lawyers say.
"Any piece of equipment that is used to test something in the criminal justice system, the defense attorney has the ability to know how the thing works and subject its fundamental capabilities to review," said Flem Whited III, a Daytona Beach attorney with expertise on DUI defense.
The Intoxilyzer, manufactured by CMI Inc. of Owensboro, Ky., is the most widely used alcohol breath testing machine in the United States and is involved in the vast majority of these legal challenges. It is used exclusively by law enforcement agencies in 20 states, including Florida, and by at least some police agencies in 20 other states, according to the company.
Most states have "implied consent" laws for motorists requiring DUI suspects to blow into a breath analysis machine if asked to do so by a police officer.
"The breath test is an integral part of any prosecution," said Earl Varn, an assistant state attorney in Sarasota.
In Florida, state law currently considers a breath test valid if the machine is approved by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the person administering the test is qualified. The law also says that a defendant is entitled to "full information concerning the test taken" if such a request is made.
The meaning of that phrase is the key to the DUI challenges in Florida and other states with similar laws.
DUI defense lawyers insist that "full information" means every minute detail about the Intoxilyzer, including the source code used by its computer processor to analyze breath samples, should be subjected to review by expert defense witnesses. Some judges have agreed.
"It seems to us that one should not have privileges and freedom jeopardized by the results of a mystical machine that is immune from discovery," Florida's 5th District Court of Appeal ruled in Muldowny's case, which resulted in his charges being reduced to reckless driving.
Judges in the Florida counties of Manatee, Sarasota, Seminole and Volusia counties are among those who have ruled in recent months that the defense was entitled to the Intoxilyzer's source code to see if the test results are reliable.
There also have been successful legal challenges involving the source code of other machines, including a 2005 case in Bellevue, Wash., in which a defense lawyer obtained the code of the BAC Datamaster testing machine, sold by National Patent Analytical Systems Inc.
But many judges in Florida have ruled the opposite way on the Intoxilyzer, including a panel in Palm Beach County that recently denied challenges by 1,500 DUI defendants who sought the source code under state public records laws.
The tactic has led lawmakers to introduce a measure in the Florida Legislature to clarify that such source codes don't have to be produced for DUI defendants.
Last November, a similar challenge in Omaha, Neb., was rejected on grounds that Nebraska did not have the source code. In Rochester, N.Y., a DUI suspect whose lawyer was seeking the source code was convicted of a lesser charge when the technician who maintained the machine was unavailable to testify.
Because CMI has refused to divulge its source code, Florida officials have argued in court that they cannot produce it for DUI defendants. Although most state judges have upheld that view, others have not.
"The state may not wash its hands of its duty to produce this information by claiming that it does not have it," Volusia County Court Judge Mary Jane Henderson ruled in December.
FDLE officials say that even if the state had access to the source code it would not necessary to test the validity of the breath results. Laura Barfield, alcohol testing program manager at FDLE, said each of the 408 Intoxilyzer 5000s used in Florida — soon to be replaced by the 8000 model — are regularly run through painstaking tests at the state and local levels.
"You don't need the source code to know the machine is providing accurate results," Barfield said.
For its part, CMI said there is no evidence that its Intoxilyzer is inaccurate, noting that a review of 80,000 tests in a 2002 Arizona case produced no evidence of mistakes.
In a statement to The Associated Press, the company said also said the source code is not a crucial element in proving the Intoxilyzer's accuracy and is a proprietary trade secret that could create havoc if computer hackers obtained it.
"Exposure of the source code could not only be detrimental to CMI from a commercial standpoint, but it could also be detrimental to customers of CMI," the company said. "Disclosure of this information could compromise the integrity of test data that is stored in the instrument."
The conflicting decisions around Florida could land the issue before the state Supreme Court. Florida lawmakers may act before that, however.
A bill making several changes to DUI law includes a section clarifying that the "full information" about breath tests does not include the "manual, schematics or software" of the breath machine or any information "in the possession of the manufacturer." The bill is moving through state House committees and could pass later this year.
Prosecutors such as Varn say if the defense challenges prevail it would mean each DUI breath test could be subjected to exhaustive analysis.
"We would have to hire an expert to come in and testify in every case to explain the function of the instrument and what the test results mean," Varn said.
But defense lawyers say DUI defendants have the constitutional right to confront their accuser, even if it is a machine.
"If everything is OK and there's nothing to hide, why do they want to change the law?" said Stuart Hyman of Orlando, a leading DUI defense lawyer who represented Muldowny. "It's ludicrous."
Friday, March 10, 2006
San Diego DUI Lawyer - Bad cop kills Ecstasy user with Taser
Posted on Thu, Mar. 09, 2006
Police actions called questionable
As he finished helping a friend move in Irving on Feb. 11, Bryan McManus could feel his blood-sugar level dropping.
That was a sign to the 37-year-old diabetic that he needed to hurry home in Euless to eat something to help it go back up.
But McManus didn't make it home quickly.
McManus, a technician, went into diabetic shock on the side of a highway just a block from his home, then he was shot with pepper spray and a stun gun by police, who believed he was intoxicated and became unruly, authorities said Wednesday.
Patrol officers used pepper spray on him then shocked him three times with a Taser before they were able to handcuff him, according to Euless police reports.
Authorities did not realize McManus was in diabetic shock until paramedics checked on him in the Euless Jail.
"With proper training, they would have recognized that I was in shock," McManus said. "Had they searched my car, they would have found the insulin, syringes and glucose."
Police officials said the incident is unfortunate but that the officers acted properly.
"He could not drive, yet he tried to drive off while the officers were there," Euless Assistant Police Chief Harland Westmoreland said. "And he was not responsive."
The incident happened shortly before 3:30 p.m. Feb. 11 at Harwood Road and Texas 360.
Responding to a call of a vehicle acting suspiciously, a patrol officer observed McManus' car moving very slowly, reports state.
"The car finally stopped," Westmoreland said. "The officer got the driver to put the car in park and tried to talk to the driver. The driver's eyes were glazed over."
According to police reports, the driver appeared intoxicated or drugged and did not answer officers' questions. When the driver tried to put the car into drive, Westmoreland said, an officer used the pepper spray.
"The driver began fighting and kicking as the officers got him out of the car," Westmoreland said. "They got him on the ground, but he's still struggling with officers."
At that point, an officer shot McManus three times with a Taser.
McManus said he can't remember anything that happened on the highway.
"I remembered leaving Irving and driving home," McManus said. "The next thing I remember is that I'm in jail with Mace on my face."
Officers transferred McManus to the Euless Jail, where paramedics began treating him. McManus said he was in and out of consciousness but remembers telling a paramedic that he is diabetic. The paramedics gave him glucose, and he began to feel better, he said. He did not need any additional medical treatment after that.
McManus said the officers had to tell him what had happened. He doesn't wear a medical bracelet, but he had a card in his wallet identifying him as a diabetic.
When officers determined that he had suffered diabetic shock, McManus was released and driven to the impound yard to get his car. Euless police paid the impound fee. He was not booked into jail or charged with a crime.
But McManus said he received a request from the Euless Fire Department asking for his insurance information so that his insurance company could be billed for the cost of the paramedics.
McManus said he is not happy about how the situation was handled.
"All police had to do was look in my car and they would have known what was going on," he said. "It shouldn't have happened."
In July, Kevin Omas, 17, who had taken Ecstasy, died after being repeatedly shot with a Taser by Euless police. Omas had been acting bizarrely on a school playground, and friends had called police for help controlling him.
Police actions called questionable
As he finished helping a friend move in Irving on Feb. 11, Bryan McManus could feel his blood-sugar level dropping.
That was a sign to the 37-year-old diabetic that he needed to hurry home in Euless to eat something to help it go back up.
But McManus didn't make it home quickly.
McManus, a technician, went into diabetic shock on the side of a highway just a block from his home, then he was shot with pepper spray and a stun gun by police, who believed he was intoxicated and became unruly, authorities said Wednesday.
Patrol officers used pepper spray on him then shocked him three times with a Taser before they were able to handcuff him, according to Euless police reports.
Authorities did not realize McManus was in diabetic shock until paramedics checked on him in the Euless Jail.
"With proper training, they would have recognized that I was in shock," McManus said. "Had they searched my car, they would have found the insulin, syringes and glucose."
Police officials said the incident is unfortunate but that the officers acted properly.
"He could not drive, yet he tried to drive off while the officers were there," Euless Assistant Police Chief Harland Westmoreland said. "And he was not responsive."
The incident happened shortly before 3:30 p.m. Feb. 11 at Harwood Road and Texas 360.
Responding to a call of a vehicle acting suspiciously, a patrol officer observed McManus' car moving very slowly, reports state.
"The car finally stopped," Westmoreland said. "The officer got the driver to put the car in park and tried to talk to the driver. The driver's eyes were glazed over."
According to police reports, the driver appeared intoxicated or drugged and did not answer officers' questions. When the driver tried to put the car into drive, Westmoreland said, an officer used the pepper spray.
"The driver began fighting and kicking as the officers got him out of the car," Westmoreland said. "They got him on the ground, but he's still struggling with officers."
At that point, an officer shot McManus three times with a Taser.
McManus said he can't remember anything that happened on the highway.
"I remembered leaving Irving and driving home," McManus said. "The next thing I remember is that I'm in jail with Mace on my face."
Officers transferred McManus to the Euless Jail, where paramedics began treating him. McManus said he was in and out of consciousness but remembers telling a paramedic that he is diabetic. The paramedics gave him glucose, and he began to feel better, he said. He did not need any additional medical treatment after that.
McManus said the officers had to tell him what had happened. He doesn't wear a medical bracelet, but he had a card in his wallet identifying him as a diabetic.
When officers determined that he had suffered diabetic shock, McManus was released and driven to the impound yard to get his car. Euless police paid the impound fee. He was not booked into jail or charged with a crime.
But McManus said he received a request from the Euless Fire Department asking for his insurance information so that his insurance company could be billed for the cost of the paramedics.
McManus said he is not happy about how the situation was handled.
"All police had to do was look in my car and they would have known what was going on," he said. "It shouldn't have happened."
In July, Kevin Omas, 17, who had taken Ecstasy, died after being repeatedly shot with a Taser by Euless police. Omas had been acting bizarrely on a school playground, and friends had called police for help controlling him.
Thursday, March 09, 2006
San Diego DUI - DUI fatalities decline
August 2005
A Brief Statistical Summary
DOT HS 809 904
Download PDF version
Alcohol-Related Fatalities in 2004
Early results from the 2004 Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) show that the number of alcohol-related1 fatalities in motor vehicle traffic crashes declined from 2003. This is the second consecutive year in which alcohol-related fatalities have declined, after reaching a recent high of 17,524 in 2002. With an expected increase in vehicle miles traveled (VMT), the alcohol-related fatality rate per 100 million VMT will be 0.57, the lowest recorded by the Department of Transportation. Also, fatalities in “high-alcohol” crashes, i.e., crashes where the highest blood alcohol concentration (BAC) was .08 grams per deciliter or above, also declined by 1.8 percent, to 14,409 fatalities.
Table 1 depicts fatalities in traffic crashes by the highest BAC in the crash. There were 411 fewer alcohol-related fatalities (BAC=.01+), a decline of 2.4 percent compared to 2003. In crashes where the highest BAC was .08+, there were 269 fewer fatalities, a decline of 1.8 percent. It was not confirmed whether or not these drivers were arrested for a DUI or DWI.
Table 1
Fatalities in Traffic Crashes by Highest BAC in the Crash
Description 2003 2004 Change % Change
BAC .01+ 17,105 16,694 -411 -2.4%
BAC .08+ 14,678 14,409 -269 -1.8%
Source: FARS 2003 [Final], 2004 [ARF].
Table 2 depicts the fatalities shown in Table 1 by the role of the person(s) who had alcohol and the highest BAC level in the crash. For example, Drivers Only (Drv Only) implies that driver(s) were the only people with alcohol, and Driver + Nonoccupant (Drv + NO) implies both a driver and a nonoccupant had alcohol.
Table 2
Alcohol-Related Fatalities by Role of Person with Alcohol
Role of Person w/ alcohol BAC = .01+ BAC = .08+
2003 2004 2003 2004
Drv Only 13,519 (79%) 13,178 (79%) 11,604 (79%) 11,406 (79%)
McO Only 1,309 (8%) 1,327 (8%) 1,075 (7%) 1,101 (8%)
Drv + McO 99 (1%) 80 (0%) 52 (0%) 42 (0%)
Drv/McO + NO 498 (3%) 460 (3%) 366 (3%) 324 (2%)
Subtotal 15,423 (90%) 15,045 (90%) 13,096 (89%) 12,874 (89%)
NO Only 1,644 (10%) 1,614 (10%) 1,548 (11%) 1,502 (10%)
Others 38 (0%) 35 (0%) 35 (0%) 33 (0%)
Total 17,105 (100%) 16,694 (100%) 14,678 (100%) 14,409 (100%)
Drv = Driver NO = Nonoccupant McO = Motorcycle Operator
Source: FARS 2003 [Final], 2004 [ARF]. Counts may not add up to totals due to independent rounding.
Percents are based on unrounded estimates.
As seen in Table 2, a majority (79 percent) of the alcohol-related fatalities occurred in crashes in which drivers were the only persons with alcohol, possibly arrested for a DWI or DUI. Additionally, about 8 percent of the alcohol-related fatalities occurred in crashes where the motorcycle operators were the only persons with alcohol. About 10 percent of alcohol-related fatalities occurred in crashes where nonoccupants were the only persons with alcohol.
Table 3 depicts the role of the people killed in alcohol-related crashes. About half of the fatalities occurred to drivers who had alcohol, and an additional 17 percent to passengers who were riding with them. About 12 percent of the fatalities occurred to nonoccupants and about 8 percent to motorcycle operators with alcohol. Thus, slightly more than 85 percent of the alcohol-related fatalities occurred to drivers/motorcycle operators or nonoccupants with alcohol, or to people riding with these drivers/motorcycle operators.
Table 3
Alcohol-Related Fatalities, by Role
Role 2003 2004
Num % of Total Num % of Total
Driver w/ alcohol 8,402 49% 8,199 49%
Passengers 2,916 17% 2,763 17%
Motorcycle Operators w/ alcohol 1,271 7% 1,264 8%
Riders 111 1% 118 1%
Nonoccupant w/ alcohol 1,969 12% 1,969 12%
Subtotal 14,669 86% 14,313 87%
Driver w/ no alcohol 1,044 6% 986 6%
Passengers 591 3% 646 4%
Motorcycle Operators w/ no alcohol 147 1% 156 1%
Riders 17 0% 21 0%
Nonoccupant w/ no alcohol 574 3% 515 3%
Other/Unknown 65 0% 57 0%
Total 17,105 100% 16,694 100%
Source: FARS 2003 [Final], 2004 [ARF]. Counts may not add up to totals due to independent rounding.
Table 4 shows, by State, the breakdown of total fatalities as well as fatalities in alcohol-related and high-alcohol crashes and the change in the fatalities and percent change from 2003 to 2004. A total of 32 States and the District of Columbia showed a decline in alcohol-related fatalities in 2004 from 2003 while 31 States and the District of Columbia showed a decline in fatalities that occur in high-alcohol crashes.
Table 4
Total Fatalities in Motor Vehicle Traffic Crashes, Alcohol-Related Fatalities, Fatalities in High-Alcohol (BAC=.08+) Crashes, Change and Percent Change, 2003-2004
State 2003 2004 2003 to 2004 Change
Total Alcohol-
Related BAC=.08+ Total Alcohol-
Related BAC=.08+ Total Alcohol-Related BAC=.08+
Num % Num % Num % Num %
Alabama 1,004 414 41% 361 36% 1,154 442 38% 394 34% 150 (14.9%) 28 (6.8%) 33 (9.1%)
Alaska 98 37 38% 33 33% 101 31 31% 30 30% 3 (3.1%) -6 (-16.2%) -3 (-9.1%)
Arizona 1,118 471 42% 411 37% 1,150 435 38% 376 33% 32 (2.9%) -36 (-7.6%) -35 (-8.5%)
Arkansas 640 252 39% 201 31% 704 276 39% 236 33% 64 (10.0%) 24 (9.5%) 35 (17.4%)
California 4,224 1,629 39% 1,377 33% 4,120 1,643 40% 1,367 33% -104 (-2.5%) 14 (0.9%) -10 (-0.7%)
Colorado 642 252 39% 228 35% 665 259 39% 225 34% 23 (3.6%) 7 (2.8%) -3 (-1.3%)
Connecticut 298 137 46% 119 40% 291 127 44% 112 38% -7 (-2.3%) -10 (-7.3%) -7 (-5.9%)
Delaware 142 61 43% 51 36% 134 51 38% 48 36% -8 (-5.6%) -10 (-16.4%) -3 (-5.9%)
Dist of Columbia 67 35 52% 31 47% 43 18 41% 12 28% -24 (-36%) -17 (-49%) -19 (-61%)
Florida 3,169 1,287 41% 1,101 35% 3,244 1,222 38% 1,053 32% 75 (2.4%) -65 (-5.1%) -48 (-4.4%)
Georgia 1,603 483 30% 416 26% 1,634 525 32% 450 28% 31 (1.9%) 42 (8.7%) 34 (8.2%)
Hawaii 133 71 53% 52 39% 142 65 46% 52 37% 9 (6.8%) -6 (-8.5%) 0 (-)
Idaho 293 106 36% 89 31% 260 93 36% 81 31% -33 (-11.3%) -13 (-12.3%) -8 (-9.0%)
Illinois 1,454 637 44% 540 37% 1,356 604 45% 517 38% -98 (-6.7%) -33 (-5.2%) -23 (-4.3%)
Indiana 833 261 31% 223 27% 947 299 32% 254 27% 114 (13.7%) 38 (14.6%) 31 (13.9%)
Iowa 443 145 33% 119 27% 390 110 28% 91 23% -53 (-12.0%) -35 (-24.1%) -28 (-23.5%)
Kansas 469 199 42% 172 37% 461 148 32% 121 26% -8 (-1.7%) -51 (-25.6%) -51 (-29.7%)
Kentucky 928 277 30% 242 26% 964 308 32% 269 28% 36 (3.9%) 31 (11.2%) 27 (11.2%)
Louisiana 940 410 44% 370 39% 904 414 46% 345 38% -36 (-3.8%) 4 (1.0%) -25 (-6.8%)
Maine 207 75 36% 69 33% 194 70 36% 58 30% -13 (-6.3%) -5 (-6.7%) -11 (-15.9%)
Maryland 650 287 44% 215 33% 643 286 45% 231 36% -7 (-1.1%) -1 (-0.3%) 16 (7.4%)
Massachusetts 462 215 47% 172 37% 476 203 43% 181 38% 14 (3.0%) -12 (-5.6%) 9 (5.2%)
Michigan 1,283 485 38% 396 31% 1,159 430 37% 367 32% -124 (-9.7%) -55 (-11.3%) -29 (-7.3%)
Minnesota 655 266 41% 223 34% 567 184 32% 170 30% -88 (-13.4%) -82 (-30.8%) -53 (-23.8%)
Mississippi 872 321 37% 291 33% 900 341 38% 317 35% 28 (3.2%) 20 (6.2%) 26 (8.9%)
Missouri 1,232 493 40% 414 34% 1,130 449 40% 388 34% -102 (-8.3%) -44 (-8.9%) -26 (-6.3%)
Montana 262 127 49% 108
A Brief Statistical Summary
DOT HS 809 904
Download PDF version
Alcohol-Related Fatalities in 2004
Early results from the 2004 Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) show that the number of alcohol-related1 fatalities in motor vehicle traffic crashes declined from 2003. This is the second consecutive year in which alcohol-related fatalities have declined, after reaching a recent high of 17,524 in 2002. With an expected increase in vehicle miles traveled (VMT), the alcohol-related fatality rate per 100 million VMT will be 0.57, the lowest recorded by the Department of Transportation. Also, fatalities in “high-alcohol” crashes, i.e., crashes where the highest blood alcohol concentration (BAC) was .08 grams per deciliter or above, also declined by 1.8 percent, to 14,409 fatalities.
Table 1 depicts fatalities in traffic crashes by the highest BAC in the crash. There were 411 fewer alcohol-related fatalities (BAC=.01+), a decline of 2.4 percent compared to 2003. In crashes where the highest BAC was .08+, there were 269 fewer fatalities, a decline of 1.8 percent. It was not confirmed whether or not these drivers were arrested for a DUI or DWI.
Table 1
Fatalities in Traffic Crashes by Highest BAC in the Crash
Description 2003 2004 Change % Change
BAC .01+ 17,105 16,694 -411 -2.4%
BAC .08+ 14,678 14,409 -269 -1.8%
Source: FARS 2003 [Final], 2004 [ARF].
Table 2 depicts the fatalities shown in Table 1 by the role of the person(s) who had alcohol and the highest BAC level in the crash. For example, Drivers Only (Drv Only) implies that driver(s) were the only people with alcohol, and Driver + Nonoccupant (Drv + NO) implies both a driver and a nonoccupant had alcohol.
Table 2
Alcohol-Related Fatalities by Role of Person with Alcohol
Role of Person w/ alcohol BAC = .01+ BAC = .08+
2003 2004 2003 2004
Drv Only 13,519 (79%) 13,178 (79%) 11,604 (79%) 11,406 (79%)
McO Only 1,309 (8%) 1,327 (8%) 1,075 (7%) 1,101 (8%)
Drv + McO 99 (1%) 80 (0%) 52 (0%) 42 (0%)
Drv/McO + NO 498 (3%) 460 (3%) 366 (3%) 324 (2%)
Subtotal 15,423 (90%) 15,045 (90%) 13,096 (89%) 12,874 (89%)
NO Only 1,644 (10%) 1,614 (10%) 1,548 (11%) 1,502 (10%)
Others 38 (0%) 35 (0%) 35 (0%) 33 (0%)
Total 17,105 (100%) 16,694 (100%) 14,678 (100%) 14,409 (100%)
Drv = Driver NO = Nonoccupant McO = Motorcycle Operator
Source: FARS 2003 [Final], 2004 [ARF]. Counts may not add up to totals due to independent rounding.
Percents are based on unrounded estimates.
As seen in Table 2, a majority (79 percent) of the alcohol-related fatalities occurred in crashes in which drivers were the only persons with alcohol, possibly arrested for a DWI or DUI. Additionally, about 8 percent of the alcohol-related fatalities occurred in crashes where the motorcycle operators were the only persons with alcohol. About 10 percent of alcohol-related fatalities occurred in crashes where nonoccupants were the only persons with alcohol.
Table 3 depicts the role of the people killed in alcohol-related crashes. About half of the fatalities occurred to drivers who had alcohol, and an additional 17 percent to passengers who were riding with them. About 12 percent of the fatalities occurred to nonoccupants and about 8 percent to motorcycle operators with alcohol. Thus, slightly more than 85 percent of the alcohol-related fatalities occurred to drivers/motorcycle operators or nonoccupants with alcohol, or to people riding with these drivers/motorcycle operators.
Table 3
Alcohol-Related Fatalities, by Role
Role 2003 2004
Num % of Total Num % of Total
Driver w/ alcohol 8,402 49% 8,199 49%
Passengers 2,916 17% 2,763 17%
Motorcycle Operators w/ alcohol 1,271 7% 1,264 8%
Riders 111 1% 118 1%
Nonoccupant w/ alcohol 1,969 12% 1,969 12%
Subtotal 14,669 86% 14,313 87%
Driver w/ no alcohol 1,044 6% 986 6%
Passengers 591 3% 646 4%
Motorcycle Operators w/ no alcohol 147 1% 156 1%
Riders 17 0% 21 0%
Nonoccupant w/ no alcohol 574 3% 515 3%
Other/Unknown 65 0% 57 0%
Total 17,105 100% 16,694 100%
Source: FARS 2003 [Final], 2004 [ARF]. Counts may not add up to totals due to independent rounding.
Table 4 shows, by State, the breakdown of total fatalities as well as fatalities in alcohol-related and high-alcohol crashes and the change in the fatalities and percent change from 2003 to 2004. A total of 32 States and the District of Columbia showed a decline in alcohol-related fatalities in 2004 from 2003 while 31 States and the District of Columbia showed a decline in fatalities that occur in high-alcohol crashes.
Table 4
Total Fatalities in Motor Vehicle Traffic Crashes, Alcohol-Related Fatalities, Fatalities in High-Alcohol (BAC=.08+) Crashes, Change and Percent Change, 2003-2004
State 2003 2004 2003 to 2004 Change
Total Alcohol-
Related BAC=.08+ Total Alcohol-
Related BAC=.08+ Total Alcohol-Related BAC=.08+
Num % Num % Num % Num %
Alabama 1,004 414 41% 361 36% 1,154 442 38% 394 34% 150 (14.9%) 28 (6.8%) 33 (9.1%)
Alaska 98 37 38% 33 33% 101 31 31% 30 30% 3 (3.1%) -6 (-16.2%) -3 (-9.1%)
Arizona 1,118 471 42% 411 37% 1,150 435 38% 376 33% 32 (2.9%) -36 (-7.6%) -35 (-8.5%)
Arkansas 640 252 39% 201 31% 704 276 39% 236 33% 64 (10.0%) 24 (9.5%) 35 (17.4%)
California 4,224 1,629 39% 1,377 33% 4,120 1,643 40% 1,367 33% -104 (-2.5%) 14 (0.9%) -10 (-0.7%)
Colorado 642 252 39% 228 35% 665 259 39% 225 34% 23 (3.6%) 7 (2.8%) -3 (-1.3%)
Connecticut 298 137 46% 119 40% 291 127 44% 112 38% -7 (-2.3%) -10 (-7.3%) -7 (-5.9%)
Delaware 142 61 43% 51 36% 134 51 38% 48 36% -8 (-5.6%) -10 (-16.4%) -3 (-5.9%)
Dist of Columbia 67 35 52% 31 47% 43 18 41% 12 28% -24 (-36%) -17 (-49%) -19 (-61%)
Florida 3,169 1,287 41% 1,101 35% 3,244 1,222 38% 1,053 32% 75 (2.4%) -65 (-5.1%) -48 (-4.4%)
Georgia 1,603 483 30% 416 26% 1,634 525 32% 450 28% 31 (1.9%) 42 (8.7%) 34 (8.2%)
Hawaii 133 71 53% 52 39% 142 65 46% 52 37% 9 (6.8%) -6 (-8.5%) 0 (-)
Idaho 293 106 36% 89 31% 260 93 36% 81 31% -33 (-11.3%) -13 (-12.3%) -8 (-9.0%)
Illinois 1,454 637 44% 540 37% 1,356 604 45% 517 38% -98 (-6.7%) -33 (-5.2%) -23 (-4.3%)
Indiana 833 261 31% 223 27% 947 299 32% 254 27% 114 (13.7%) 38 (14.6%) 31 (13.9%)
Iowa 443 145 33% 119 27% 390 110 28% 91 23% -53 (-12.0%) -35 (-24.1%) -28 (-23.5%)
Kansas 469 199 42% 172 37% 461 148 32% 121 26% -8 (-1.7%) -51 (-25.6%) -51 (-29.7%)
Kentucky 928 277 30% 242 26% 964 308 32% 269 28% 36 (3.9%) 31 (11.2%) 27 (11.2%)
Louisiana 940 410 44% 370 39% 904 414 46% 345 38% -36 (-3.8%) 4 (1.0%) -25 (-6.8%)
Maine 207 75 36% 69 33% 194 70 36% 58 30% -13 (-6.3%) -5 (-6.7%) -11 (-15.9%)
Maryland 650 287 44% 215 33% 643 286 45% 231 36% -7 (-1.1%) -1 (-0.3%) 16 (7.4%)
Massachusetts 462 215 47% 172 37% 476 203 43% 181 38% 14 (3.0%) -12 (-5.6%) 9 (5.2%)
Michigan 1,283 485 38% 396 31% 1,159 430 37% 367 32% -124 (-9.7%) -55 (-11.3%) -29 (-7.3%)
Minnesota 655 266 41% 223 34% 567 184 32% 170 30% -88 (-13.4%) -82 (-30.8%) -53 (-23.8%)
Mississippi 872 321 37% 291 33% 900 341 38% 317 35% 28 (3.2%) 20 (6.2%) 26 (8.9%)
Missouri 1,232 493 40% 414 34% 1,130 449 40% 388 34% -102 (-8.3%) -44 (-8.9%) -26 (-6.3%)
Montana 262 127 49% 108
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
San Diego DUI - Driving Under the Influence of sleeping pills
Some Sleeping Pill Users Range Far Beyond Bed
With a tendency to stare zombie-like and run into stationary objects, a new species of impaired motorist is hitting the roads: the Ambien driver.
Sean Joyce, after taking Ambien, became "like the Incredible Hulk all of a sudden" on a flight to London last year, according to his lawyer.
Zolpidem is the chemical name for Ambien. Ambien, the nation's best-selling prescription sleeping pill, is showing up with regularity as a factor in traffic arrests, sometimes involving drivers who later say they were sleep-driving and have no memory of taking the wheel after taking the drug.
In some state toxicology laboratories Ambien makes the top 10 list of drugs found in impaired drivers. Wisconsin officials identified Ambien in the bloodstreams of 187 arrested drivers from 1999 to 2004.
And as a more people are taking the drug — 26.5 million prescriptions in this country last year — there are signs that Ambien-related driving arrests are on the rise. In Washington State, for example, officials counted 78 impaired-driving arrests in which Ambien was a factor last year, up from 56 in 2004.
Ambien's maker, Sanofi-Aventis, says the drug's record after 13 years of use in this country shows it is safe when taken as directed. But a spokeswoman, Melissa Feltmann, wrote in an e-mail message, "We are aware of reports of people driving while sleepwalking, and those reports have been provided to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as part of our ongoing postmarketing evaluation about the safety of our products."
A spokeswoman for the F.D.A. said the drug's current label warnings, which say it should not be used with alcohol and in some cases could cause sleepwalking or hallucinations, were adequate. "People should be aware of that," said the spokeswoman, Susan Cruzan.
While alcohol and other drugs are sometimes also involved in the Ambien traffic cases, the drivers tend to stand out from other under-the-influence motorists. The behavior can include driving in the wrong direction or slamming into light poles or parked vehicles, as well as seeming oblivious to the arresting officers, according to a presentation last month at a meeting of forensic scientists.
"These cases are just extremely bizarre, with extreme impairment," said Laura J. Liddicoat, the forensic toxicology supervisor at a state-run lab in Wisconsin who made the presentation.
Her presentation, which reported on six of the cases, was made at a meeting of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, where her counterparts from other parts of the country swapped similar tales.
Several of Ms. Liddicoat's cases involved drivers whose blood revealed evidence of Ambien overdoses. In one of them the driver, who was also taking the antidepressant citalopram, crashed into a parked car, was involved in another near collision, then drove over a curb. When confronted by police, he did not recall any of the recent events, according to the presentation.
Ms. Liddicoat did not describe any of those cases as sleep-driving — in fact, she said she had not heard of that defense — and it is possible that some drivers' claims of driving while asleep may be mere Ambien alibis. But some medical researchers say reports of sleep-driving are plausible.
Doctors affiliated with the University of Minnesota Medical Center who have studied Ambien recently reported the cases of two users who told doctors they sleep-drove to the supermarket while under the drug's influence. Neither of the patients remembered the episode the next day, according to Dr. Carlos Schenck, an expert in sleep disorders who is the lead researcher in the study.
"Luckily, neither of them got hurt," said Dr. Schenck, who added that sleep-driving — which really occurs in a twilight state between sleep and wakefulness — was more common than people generally suspect. He said he believed that Ambien was an excellent sleep agent, but that patients need to be better warned about its potential side effects.
The traffic cases around the country include that of Dwayne Cribb, a longtime probation and parole officer in Rock Hill, S.C. Mr. Cribb says he remembers nothing after taking Ambien before bed last Halloween — until he awoke in jail to learn he had left his bed and gone for a drive, smashed into a parked van and driven away before crashing into a tree. Mr. Cribb is still facing charges of leaving the scene of an accident.
A registered nurse who lives outside Denver took Ambien before going to sleep one night in January 2003. Sometime later — she says she remembers none of the episode — she got into her car wearing only a thin nightshirt in 20-degree weather, had a fender bender, urinated in the middle of an intersection, then became violent with police officers, according to her lawyer.
The woman, whose lawyer says she previously had a pristine traffic record, eventually pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of careless driving after the prosecutors partly accepted her version of events, said the lawyer, Lloyd L. Boyer.
Many states do not currently test for Ambien when making impaired- driving arrests. But a survey still under way by a committee from the forensic sciences group and the Society of Forensic Toxicologists found that among laboratories that conduct tests of drivers' blood samples for two dozen states, 10 labs list Ambien among the top 10 drugs found in impaired drivers, according to Dr. Sarah Kerrigan, a forensic toxicologist in Houston involved in that survey.
"Doctors are handing out these drugs like Pez," said William C. Head, an Atlanta lawyer who is one of the nation's leading defense lawyers specializing in impaired-driving cases.
The F.D.A., which would have to order any labeling changes, says it is not aware of any pattern of problems with the drug. Still Ms. Cruzan, in response to a reporter's question, said the agency would look into unusual sleepwalking episodes.
Including the notifications from Sanofi, which as a matter of policy the F.D.A. declined to discuss, the agency did receive 48 "adverse event" reports in 2004 involving Ambien use without other drugs. They involved three cases of sleepwalking, six reports of hallucinations and one traffic accident.
Ambien's competitors — Lunesta by Sepracor and Sonata by King Pharmaceuticals — are not as widely used in this country, and do not seem to be cropping up with any frequency on police blotters. Ambien sales last year reached $2.2 billion, according to IMS Health. Among the three drugs, Ambien accounted for 84 percent of prescriptions dispensed.
A federal prosecutor was persuaded that Ambien played a part in a well-publicized case last summer involving not a car but an airliner. A US Airways flight from Charlotte, N.C., to London last July was diverted to Boston, after a passenger who had taken Ambien became "like the Incredible Hulk all of a sudden," according to his lawyer.
The man, Sean Joyce, a British painting contractor, became agitated, tore off his shirt and threatened to kill himself and fellow passengers, according to court documents. If convicted, Mr. Joyce could have faced a maximum sentence of 20 years in jail for interfering with a flight crew, according to his lawyer, Michael C. Andrews.
But under a plea agreement Mr. Joyce was sentenced to five days already served, after the prosecutor accepted his story that his eruption, which he said he could not recall at all, occurred as a result of taking one Ambien pill and drinking two individual-serving bottles of wine.
Many of the impaired-driving cases involve people who drank alcohol before taking Ambien. Mr. Cribb, for instance, said he had two beers with dinner before he took the drug and went to bed.
Sanofi-Aventis says that while sleepwalking may occur while taking Ambien, the drug may not be the cause. It also notes that the warnings with Ambien, including those in its television ads, specifically instruct patients not to use it with alcohol and to take it right before bed.
Alcohol has sometimes been shown to cause sleepwalking, and it can also magnify Ambien's effects, according to Dr. Mark Mahowald, director of the Minnesota Regional Sleep Disorders Center at Hennepin County Medical Center, who is also involved in Dr. Schenck's study.
In the past, the center has received grant funding from Sepracor, Lunesta's maker, but Dr. Mahowald said that none of the researchers currently received any funding from sleeping pill companies.
Ambien's alcohol warning is apparently ignored by many people. But Mr. Head, the defense lawyer, says he has concluded that no one should take Ambien the same evening they have been drinking alcohol. "Not even a toast," he said.
Mr. Head is now defending a man in Decatur, Ga., who, after having three drinks one night, said he took two Ambien and was in bed watching David Letterman's monologue on television. Without realizing it, the man says, he got back out of bed and behind the wheel and was arrested on multiple charges that included driving on the wrong side of the road.
Too many other people taking Ambien also evidently disregard the other label guidelines.
Ann Marie Gordon, manager of Washington State's toxicology lab, said that many of those arrested reported that they took Ambien while driving so it would "kick in" by the time they got home. "Hello — it kicked in before you got home?" Ms. Gordon said. "That's not a good thing. I'm amazed at the number of people who do that."
But misuse of the drug may not explain all the cases. The nurse near Denver took a single Ambien and went to bed, according to her lawyer, Mr. Boyer of Englewood, Colo. Mr. Boyer said that only when the woman returned home after her arrest did she discover a partly consumed bottle of wine on her counter — unopened when she went to bed, she said — leading her to suspect she had begun drinking after taking Ambien.
Research by Dr. Schenck and others elsewhere have found evidence that Ambien users engaged, unawares, in various middle-of-the-night behaviors. In a study published in 2001, researchers at the Mayo Clinic Sleep Disorders Center reported on five cases of unusual nighttime eating, sometimes while sleepwalking, in patients taking Ambien. The chief of physical medicine and rehabilitation for the VA North Texas Health System in Dallas, Dr. Weibin Yang, said he became aware of Ambien's potential side effects while at another hospital treating a 55-year-old patient after hip surgery.
The man, who had no history of sleepwalking, walked into a hospital corridor one night, where he urinated on the floor. On another night, he got out of bed and told nurses he was going to church. Dr. Yang said the patient was also taking other medications, but the sleepwalking stopped when Ambien was discontinued. The patient, he said, had no recollection of either event.
Dr. Yang said such experiences persuaded him that people could drive, without realizing it, after taking Ambien.
Meanwhile in South Carolina, Mr. Cribb, who has already pleaded guilty to driving under the influence, still faces a charge of leaving the scene of an accident. He says he has sworn off Ambien. "There has to be a stronger warning," he said, "about what this drug does to you."
With a tendency to stare zombie-like and run into stationary objects, a new species of impaired motorist is hitting the roads: the Ambien driver.
Sean Joyce, after taking Ambien, became "like the Incredible Hulk all of a sudden" on a flight to London last year, according to his lawyer.
Zolpidem is the chemical name for Ambien. Ambien, the nation's best-selling prescription sleeping pill, is showing up with regularity as a factor in traffic arrests, sometimes involving drivers who later say they were sleep-driving and have no memory of taking the wheel after taking the drug.
In some state toxicology laboratories Ambien makes the top 10 list of drugs found in impaired drivers. Wisconsin officials identified Ambien in the bloodstreams of 187 arrested drivers from 1999 to 2004.
And as a more people are taking the drug — 26.5 million prescriptions in this country last year — there are signs that Ambien-related driving arrests are on the rise. In Washington State, for example, officials counted 78 impaired-driving arrests in which Ambien was a factor last year, up from 56 in 2004.
Ambien's maker, Sanofi-Aventis, says the drug's record after 13 years of use in this country shows it is safe when taken as directed. But a spokeswoman, Melissa Feltmann, wrote in an e-mail message, "We are aware of reports of people driving while sleepwalking, and those reports have been provided to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as part of our ongoing postmarketing evaluation about the safety of our products."
A spokeswoman for the F.D.A. said the drug's current label warnings, which say it should not be used with alcohol and in some cases could cause sleepwalking or hallucinations, were adequate. "People should be aware of that," said the spokeswoman, Susan Cruzan.
While alcohol and other drugs are sometimes also involved in the Ambien traffic cases, the drivers tend to stand out from other under-the-influence motorists. The behavior can include driving in the wrong direction or slamming into light poles or parked vehicles, as well as seeming oblivious to the arresting officers, according to a presentation last month at a meeting of forensic scientists.
"These cases are just extremely bizarre, with extreme impairment," said Laura J. Liddicoat, the forensic toxicology supervisor at a state-run lab in Wisconsin who made the presentation.
Her presentation, which reported on six of the cases, was made at a meeting of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, where her counterparts from other parts of the country swapped similar tales.
Several of Ms. Liddicoat's cases involved drivers whose blood revealed evidence of Ambien overdoses. In one of them the driver, who was also taking the antidepressant citalopram, crashed into a parked car, was involved in another near collision, then drove over a curb. When confronted by police, he did not recall any of the recent events, according to the presentation.
Ms. Liddicoat did not describe any of those cases as sleep-driving — in fact, she said she had not heard of that defense — and it is possible that some drivers' claims of driving while asleep may be mere Ambien alibis. But some medical researchers say reports of sleep-driving are plausible.
Doctors affiliated with the University of Minnesota Medical Center who have studied Ambien recently reported the cases of two users who told doctors they sleep-drove to the supermarket while under the drug's influence. Neither of the patients remembered the episode the next day, according to Dr. Carlos Schenck, an expert in sleep disorders who is the lead researcher in the study.
"Luckily, neither of them got hurt," said Dr. Schenck, who added that sleep-driving — which really occurs in a twilight state between sleep and wakefulness — was more common than people generally suspect. He said he believed that Ambien was an excellent sleep agent, but that patients need to be better warned about its potential side effects.
The traffic cases around the country include that of Dwayne Cribb, a longtime probation and parole officer in Rock Hill, S.C. Mr. Cribb says he remembers nothing after taking Ambien before bed last Halloween — until he awoke in jail to learn he had left his bed and gone for a drive, smashed into a parked van and driven away before crashing into a tree. Mr. Cribb is still facing charges of leaving the scene of an accident.
A registered nurse who lives outside Denver took Ambien before going to sleep one night in January 2003. Sometime later — she says she remembers none of the episode — she got into her car wearing only a thin nightshirt in 20-degree weather, had a fender bender, urinated in the middle of an intersection, then became violent with police officers, according to her lawyer.
The woman, whose lawyer says she previously had a pristine traffic record, eventually pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of careless driving after the prosecutors partly accepted her version of events, said the lawyer, Lloyd L. Boyer.
Many states do not currently test for Ambien when making impaired- driving arrests. But a survey still under way by a committee from the forensic sciences group and the Society of Forensic Toxicologists found that among laboratories that conduct tests of drivers' blood samples for two dozen states, 10 labs list Ambien among the top 10 drugs found in impaired drivers, according to Dr. Sarah Kerrigan, a forensic toxicologist in Houston involved in that survey.
"Doctors are handing out these drugs like Pez," said William C. Head, an Atlanta lawyer who is one of the nation's leading defense lawyers specializing in impaired-driving cases.
The F.D.A., which would have to order any labeling changes, says it is not aware of any pattern of problems with the drug. Still Ms. Cruzan, in response to a reporter's question, said the agency would look into unusual sleepwalking episodes.
Including the notifications from Sanofi, which as a matter of policy the F.D.A. declined to discuss, the agency did receive 48 "adverse event" reports in 2004 involving Ambien use without other drugs. They involved three cases of sleepwalking, six reports of hallucinations and one traffic accident.
Ambien's competitors — Lunesta by Sepracor and Sonata by King Pharmaceuticals — are not as widely used in this country, and do not seem to be cropping up with any frequency on police blotters. Ambien sales last year reached $2.2 billion, according to IMS Health. Among the three drugs, Ambien accounted for 84 percent of prescriptions dispensed.
A federal prosecutor was persuaded that Ambien played a part in a well-publicized case last summer involving not a car but an airliner. A US Airways flight from Charlotte, N.C., to London last July was diverted to Boston, after a passenger who had taken Ambien became "like the Incredible Hulk all of a sudden," according to his lawyer.
The man, Sean Joyce, a British painting contractor, became agitated, tore off his shirt and threatened to kill himself and fellow passengers, according to court documents. If convicted, Mr. Joyce could have faced a maximum sentence of 20 years in jail for interfering with a flight crew, according to his lawyer, Michael C. Andrews.
But under a plea agreement Mr. Joyce was sentenced to five days already served, after the prosecutor accepted his story that his eruption, which he said he could not recall at all, occurred as a result of taking one Ambien pill and drinking two individual-serving bottles of wine.
Many of the impaired-driving cases involve people who drank alcohol before taking Ambien. Mr. Cribb, for instance, said he had two beers with dinner before he took the drug and went to bed.
Sanofi-Aventis says that while sleepwalking may occur while taking Ambien, the drug may not be the cause. It also notes that the warnings with Ambien, including those in its television ads, specifically instruct patients not to use it with alcohol and to take it right before bed.
Alcohol has sometimes been shown to cause sleepwalking, and it can also magnify Ambien's effects, according to Dr. Mark Mahowald, director of the Minnesota Regional Sleep Disorders Center at Hennepin County Medical Center, who is also involved in Dr. Schenck's study.
In the past, the center has received grant funding from Sepracor, Lunesta's maker, but Dr. Mahowald said that none of the researchers currently received any funding from sleeping pill companies.
Ambien's alcohol warning is apparently ignored by many people. But Mr. Head, the defense lawyer, says he has concluded that no one should take Ambien the same evening they have been drinking alcohol. "Not even a toast," he said.
Mr. Head is now defending a man in Decatur, Ga., who, after having three drinks one night, said he took two Ambien and was in bed watching David Letterman's monologue on television. Without realizing it, the man says, he got back out of bed and behind the wheel and was arrested on multiple charges that included driving on the wrong side of the road.
Too many other people taking Ambien also evidently disregard the other label guidelines.
Ann Marie Gordon, manager of Washington State's toxicology lab, said that many of those arrested reported that they took Ambien while driving so it would "kick in" by the time they got home. "Hello — it kicked in before you got home?" Ms. Gordon said. "That's not a good thing. I'm amazed at the number of people who do that."
But misuse of the drug may not explain all the cases. The nurse near Denver took a single Ambien and went to bed, according to her lawyer, Mr. Boyer of Englewood, Colo. Mr. Boyer said that only when the woman returned home after her arrest did she discover a partly consumed bottle of wine on her counter — unopened when she went to bed, she said — leading her to suspect she had begun drinking after taking Ambien.
Research by Dr. Schenck and others elsewhere have found evidence that Ambien users engaged, unawares, in various middle-of-the-night behaviors. In a study published in 2001, researchers at the Mayo Clinic Sleep Disorders Center reported on five cases of unusual nighttime eating, sometimes while sleepwalking, in patients taking Ambien. The chief of physical medicine and rehabilitation for the VA North Texas Health System in Dallas, Dr. Weibin Yang, said he became aware of Ambien's potential side effects while at another hospital treating a 55-year-old patient after hip surgery.
The man, who had no history of sleepwalking, walked into a hospital corridor one night, where he urinated on the floor. On another night, he got out of bed and told nurses he was going to church. Dr. Yang said the patient was also taking other medications, but the sleepwalking stopped when Ambien was discontinued. The patient, he said, had no recollection of either event.
Dr. Yang said such experiences persuaded him that people could drive, without realizing it, after taking Ambien.
Meanwhile in South Carolina, Mr. Cribb, who has already pleaded guilty to driving under the influence, still faces a charge of leaving the scene of an accident. He says he has sworn off Ambien. "There has to be a stronger warning," he said, "about what this drug does to you."
Tuesday, March 07, 2006
San Diego DUI - Drunken hearse driver bites officer
BERLIN - A drunken hearse driver has been arrested in the western German town of Krefeld after biting a police officer taking him in for an alcohol test, police said on Monday.
Police had called for a hearse at a funeral home to transport a body to the cemetery.
"The hearse driver nearly fell over when he got out of the car. Then he had to hold onto everything he could find as he stumbled to the house," said police spokesman Dietmar Greger.
Police decided to take the man to the station to test his blood alcohol level, but when they tried to get him out of their car he started a fight and bit an officer several times in the hand.
The man was confined to a cell until he sobered up and has been charged with civil disorder and drunk driving.
Police had called for a hearse at a funeral home to transport a body to the cemetery.
"The hearse driver nearly fell over when he got out of the car. Then he had to hold onto everything he could find as he stumbled to the house," said police spokesman Dietmar Greger.
Police decided to take the man to the station to test his blood alcohol level, but when they tried to get him out of their car he started a fight and bit an officer several times in the hand.
The man was confined to a cell until he sobered up and has been charged with civil disorder and drunk driving.
Monday, March 06, 2006
San Diego DUI Attorney - Breathalyzer Tests Questioned By Defense Attorneys
COLUMBUS,OH (2006-03-06) Prosecutors, judges and juries use the results of breathzalyzer tests to convict people of driving drunk. But many defense attorneys say the tests are not always reliable
Rick, a defense attorney who declined to give his last name was one of dozens, who attended a recent seminar on breath testing. He said he had two cocktails prior to blowing into the machine and was shocked when he saw that his Blood Alcohol Content was above the state's legal limit of .08. And surprising results such as were frequent during the seminar.
About half a dozen breath test machines sat on table tops next to loaves of Wonder bread, Altoids, Listerine and chewing tobacco. Defense attorneys say these everyday items can influence test results. Columbus attorney Jon Saia had me rinse with Listerine and then take the breath test. The results came back invalid. "As you were blowing into the machine you had so much alcohol in your mouth, or what the machine was reading as alcohol, that the machine shut down and a ticket printed out as an invalid sample. An invalid sample was caused by the fact that you have mouth alcohol, and the reading of your first breath that you blew in was higher than the reading of the amount of alcohol in the breath of your lungs." explained Saia
Columbus attorney, Eric Yavitch, decided to try his hand at testing out the machine. Yavitch, who weighs 170 pounds, said he drank two bottles of Bass Ale about twenty minutes before the testing.
"The result was .024, significantly below the legal limit. OK, and now what are you about to do? I'm about to put a piece of Wonder bread in my mouth, chew it up a little bit. You going to have me swallow it? To see if the yeast and sugar and the by-products will give off an increased reading of alcohol." Says Yavitch.
Saia said results after eating Wonder bread are usually similar to the ones after using Listerine: an invalid test or a very high reading. But that didn't happen this time. In fact, Yavitch's Blood Alcohol Content decreased.
I tested again after eating one piece of Wonder bread. And the results were like Saia predicted: an invalid test. But no one could explain why my test was invalid while Yavitch's results were not even affected by the bread. President of the Central Ohio Association for Criminal Defense Attorneys, Richard Piatt, said that's why the machines should be questioned. "It just goes to show you that these breath test machines may not be a valid as the prosecutors and the police think they are." Says Piatt.
A breath test instructor and presenter at the seminar, Scott Wonder, has Esophageal Reflux Disease. Wonder said that disorder can cause false readings on a breath test, and he's been able to prove it when he does not take his medication.
John Fusco's business, National Patent Analytical Systems Incorporated, makes the machines that are used in Ohio as well as about 22 other states. Fusco said he trusts the technology and he wants to educate attorneys on how the machines work.
"It's better to have well educated defense attorneys. They tend to do things that are not dumb that tend to waste a lot of my time so it's really kind of self-serving too. The more they know, the better off I am." Says Fusco.
Attorneys weren't the only ones learning something at the seminar. Licking County Judge David Branstool said he always thought Breathalyzers were fairly accurate.
"The Truth About Breath Testing" was presented by the D-U-I Committee of the Ohio Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.
Rick, a defense attorney who declined to give his last name was one of dozens, who attended a recent seminar on breath testing. He said he had two cocktails prior to blowing into the machine and was shocked when he saw that his Blood Alcohol Content was above the state's legal limit of .08. And surprising results such as were frequent during the seminar.
About half a dozen breath test machines sat on table tops next to loaves of Wonder bread, Altoids, Listerine and chewing tobacco. Defense attorneys say these everyday items can influence test results. Columbus attorney Jon Saia had me rinse with Listerine and then take the breath test. The results came back invalid. "As you were blowing into the machine you had so much alcohol in your mouth, or what the machine was reading as alcohol, that the machine shut down and a ticket printed out as an invalid sample. An invalid sample was caused by the fact that you have mouth alcohol, and the reading of your first breath that you blew in was higher than the reading of the amount of alcohol in the breath of your lungs." explained Saia
Columbus attorney, Eric Yavitch, decided to try his hand at testing out the machine. Yavitch, who weighs 170 pounds, said he drank two bottles of Bass Ale about twenty minutes before the testing.
"The result was .024, significantly below the legal limit. OK, and now what are you about to do? I'm about to put a piece of Wonder bread in my mouth, chew it up a little bit. You going to have me swallow it? To see if the yeast and sugar and the by-products will give off an increased reading of alcohol." Says Yavitch.
Saia said results after eating Wonder bread are usually similar to the ones after using Listerine: an invalid test or a very high reading. But that didn't happen this time. In fact, Yavitch's Blood Alcohol Content decreased.
I tested again after eating one piece of Wonder bread. And the results were like Saia predicted: an invalid test. But no one could explain why my test was invalid while Yavitch's results were not even affected by the bread. President of the Central Ohio Association for Criminal Defense Attorneys, Richard Piatt, said that's why the machines should be questioned. "It just goes to show you that these breath test machines may not be a valid as the prosecutors and the police think they are." Says Piatt.
A breath test instructor and presenter at the seminar, Scott Wonder, has Esophageal Reflux Disease. Wonder said that disorder can cause false readings on a breath test, and he's been able to prove it when he does not take his medication.
John Fusco's business, National Patent Analytical Systems Incorporated, makes the machines that are used in Ohio as well as about 22 other states. Fusco said he trusts the technology and he wants to educate attorneys on how the machines work.
"It's better to have well educated defense attorneys. They tend to do things that are not dumb that tend to waste a lot of my time so it's really kind of self-serving too. The more they know, the better off I am." Says Fusco.
Attorneys weren't the only ones learning something at the seminar. Licking County Judge David Branstool said he always thought Breathalyzers were fairly accurate.
"The Truth About Breath Testing" was presented by the D-U-I Committee of the Ohio Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.
Sunday, March 05, 2006
San Diego DUI - old Intoxilyzer attacked
This day didn't seem to be Marcie Lynn Musgrave's lucky day. The petite blond, two months shy of her 21st birthday, had just spent the night partying on Clematis Street in West Palm Beach. As she headed home in her car, an off-duty cop followed. He had noted that, as she drove, Musgrave vomited out her window. Continuously. She did it all the way home, heaving as she went, West Palm Beach Officer Pat Ross said afterward.
He followed Musgrave down Okeechobee Boulevard, and he continued to tail her as she puked her way south on Parker Avenue. The officer stayed on the phone with the police station until an on-duty cop showed up to pull her over.
Musgrave denied everything (not a bad strategy, lawyers who handle DUI cases will tell you). Asked why she was upchucking out her window, the arrest report said, Musgrave, who did not return phone messages for this story, retorted defiantly: "I wasn't throwing up."
At the jail, the cops told Musgrave to stand in front of the infamous Intoxilyzer 5000, the state's weapon of choice in testing the breath of accused drunk drivers. The briefcase-sized device of brushed steel looks like something out of a 1980's Radio Shack catalog. It has only two buttons, power and start, and a simple, green LED display that blinks "BLOW" in block letters. The cops attached a disposable plastic mouthpiece to an arm that extends off the side and told Musgrave to blow as hard as she could into it. The machine screeched like an old dot-matrix printer and spat out a card with the bad news: The Intoxilyzer reported her blood-alcohol level to be .10 percent. That's two-hundredths of a percentage point higher than the legal limit in Florida and enough for Musgrave to catch a drunk driving charge.
Like most criminal cases, Musgrave's misdemeanor charge languished in the bowels of the court system for nearly a year. Then, in August, her luck changed dramatically. Thanks to some shoddy work by the technicians who maintain Palm Beach County's main Intoxilyzer machine, prosecutors dropped drunk driving cases for Musgrave and 169 others. The Intoxilyzer technicians had been doing improper maintenance on the machine for a year, an enterprising defense attorney had discovered, and the state was forced either to drop the cases or go to court with little evidence.
Almost a thousand other Palm Beach County cases have been similarly weakened, lawyers say, with prosecutors forced to go forward without the breath-test results. Even in cases like Musgrave's, where a cop's testimony alone might have seemed enough to wring out a guilty verdict, prosecutors say they usually need more to bolster DUI cases. That's because jury members are likely to have had experiences of their own with driving drunk. Call it jury empathy; for the prosecution side of the courtroom, it can make for a tough crowd.
The blunders that have allowed a slew of accused drunk drivers to walk recently are not a rarity. In fact, a recent wave of such mistakes is indicative of the uncertain technology used to prosecute DUIs. Florida's police departments have chosen to use balky, outdated equipment that's often as much as two decades old.
There are new, more accurate machines available, but law enforcement agencies say that a statewide changeover would just make DUI cases in the pipeline vulnerable to the predatory attacks of clever lawyers.Drunk driving is still the third-most-prosecuted crime in Florida (after theft and assault), but lawyers pick apart DUI cases like vultures poking the most decayed part of roadkill. Their success has frustrated cops, who are arresting fewer drunk drivers every year in Florida. While it's no surprise that, in our legal system, only the rich can manage an O.J. Simpson-style murder defense, it is -- there's no better word to describe it -- sobering to realize that anybody with a few thousand dollars to spend on a lawyer can almost assuredly beat a drunk driving charge.
Walking into the Aventura office of Richard Essen feels a bit like being ushered into the headquarters of a Sicilian businessman in northern Jersey. On a recent Monday morning, the hefty, 67-year-old Essen fills the chair behind his redwood desk as his cadre of lawyers and an investigator stand solemnly in a semicircle around him. Essen's wearing a blue dress shirt with red suspenders and has a suit jacket draped on the chair behind him. His arms stretch out in front, gripping his desk as if he's preventing it from taking off. He shakes hands without getting up and gestures to a chair among the simple furniture in the small office that overlooks a parking lot.
This is the lair of the DUI King. Essen's firm is responsible for uncovering the Intoxilyzer problems in Broward and Palm Beach counties, and Essen himself has become a legend for helping to shape the lucrative industry of DUI defense.
Essen was practicing law for about two decades before he got the idea of a practice specializing in DUIs. In the mid-1980s, he converted the firm he had inherited from his father into what he says was the first law firm in the country to do only drunk driving cases. "Before that, I was defending drug cases and murder," Essen says. "There were some very bad people going back on the street. I never considered drunk driving to be a crime. I wanted to defend people I knew, people who just made a mistake and weren't criminals."
Essen has helped to define the technicalities that dominate DUI defense.
Pick any of the myriad details that cops use to try to prove an arrestee's drunkenness and Essen and Co. have a ready defense. Your eyes looked bloodshot when you were pulled over? Maybe it was from contact lenses that needed eye drops. A failed roadside sobriety test? It could have been the result of blinding lights from a patrol car. Did you slur your speech? Maybe you should have removed your ill-fitting dentures. There are always explanations.
There's even a simple, unassailable defense for the case of the drunk driver who falls asleep at the wheel -- perhaps like Tyler Lower, a 25-year-old golf attendant from Palm Beach Gardens. According to a February 25 arrest report, Lower didn't quite make it over a speed bump on Vision Terrace in Palm Beach Gardens. Cops found him slouched over the steering wheel, car running, transmission in drive, with his car paused on the upside of the speed bump. Cops say it took them 30 seconds to wake Lower up, after they had put his car in park. During sobriety tests, he reportedly said, "I can't do this sober." The Intoxilyzer claimed he was more than two times the legal limit, with a blood-alcohol level of .18 percent.
Lower's case was one of the 170 thrown out in Palm Beach County because of the Intoxilyzer maintenance problems. But if it hadn't been, Essen suggests an elegant response to the charges: The defendant was too tired to perform the tests.
Essen claims to have won 1,800 straight cases without a loss. His record has earned him the attention of the Wall Street Journal, which did a front-page profile of him in 1986. He has appeared in papers from Miami to San Francisco, on Oprah and CNN. A 60 Minutes profile called him the drunk driver's "best friend." He now boasts of a record for his law firm somewhere near 11,000 wins and about 100 losses. It's a number that's impossible to confirm, but if true, it means he's batting more than .900.
He followed Musgrave down Okeechobee Boulevard, and he continued to tail her as she puked her way south on Parker Avenue. The officer stayed on the phone with the police station until an on-duty cop showed up to pull her over.
Musgrave denied everything (not a bad strategy, lawyers who handle DUI cases will tell you). Asked why she was upchucking out her window, the arrest report said, Musgrave, who did not return phone messages for this story, retorted defiantly: "I wasn't throwing up."
At the jail, the cops told Musgrave to stand in front of the infamous Intoxilyzer 5000, the state's weapon of choice in testing the breath of accused drunk drivers. The briefcase-sized device of brushed steel looks like something out of a 1980's Radio Shack catalog. It has only two buttons, power and start, and a simple, green LED display that blinks "BLOW" in block letters. The cops attached a disposable plastic mouthpiece to an arm that extends off the side and told Musgrave to blow as hard as she could into it. The machine screeched like an old dot-matrix printer and spat out a card with the bad news: The Intoxilyzer reported her blood-alcohol level to be .10 percent. That's two-hundredths of a percentage point higher than the legal limit in Florida and enough for Musgrave to catch a drunk driving charge.
Like most criminal cases, Musgrave's misdemeanor charge languished in the bowels of the court system for nearly a year. Then, in August, her luck changed dramatically. Thanks to some shoddy work by the technicians who maintain Palm Beach County's main Intoxilyzer machine, prosecutors dropped drunk driving cases for Musgrave and 169 others. The Intoxilyzer technicians had been doing improper maintenance on the machine for a year, an enterprising defense attorney had discovered, and the state was forced either to drop the cases or go to court with little evidence.
Almost a thousand other Palm Beach County cases have been similarly weakened, lawyers say, with prosecutors forced to go forward without the breath-test results. Even in cases like Musgrave's, where a cop's testimony alone might have seemed enough to wring out a guilty verdict, prosecutors say they usually need more to bolster DUI cases. That's because jury members are likely to have had experiences of their own with driving drunk. Call it jury empathy; for the prosecution side of the courtroom, it can make for a tough crowd.
The blunders that have allowed a slew of accused drunk drivers to walk recently are not a rarity. In fact, a recent wave of such mistakes is indicative of the uncertain technology used to prosecute DUIs. Florida's police departments have chosen to use balky, outdated equipment that's often as much as two decades old.
There are new, more accurate machines available, but law enforcement agencies say that a statewide changeover would just make DUI cases in the pipeline vulnerable to the predatory attacks of clever lawyers.Drunk driving is still the third-most-prosecuted crime in Florida (after theft and assault), but lawyers pick apart DUI cases like vultures poking the most decayed part of roadkill. Their success has frustrated cops, who are arresting fewer drunk drivers every year in Florida. While it's no surprise that, in our legal system, only the rich can manage an O.J. Simpson-style murder defense, it is -- there's no better word to describe it -- sobering to realize that anybody with a few thousand dollars to spend on a lawyer can almost assuredly beat a drunk driving charge.
Walking into the Aventura office of Richard Essen feels a bit like being ushered into the headquarters of a Sicilian businessman in northern Jersey. On a recent Monday morning, the hefty, 67-year-old Essen fills the chair behind his redwood desk as his cadre of lawyers and an investigator stand solemnly in a semicircle around him. Essen's wearing a blue dress shirt with red suspenders and has a suit jacket draped on the chair behind him. His arms stretch out in front, gripping his desk as if he's preventing it from taking off. He shakes hands without getting up and gestures to a chair among the simple furniture in the small office that overlooks a parking lot.
This is the lair of the DUI King. Essen's firm is responsible for uncovering the Intoxilyzer problems in Broward and Palm Beach counties, and Essen himself has become a legend for helping to shape the lucrative industry of DUI defense.
Essen was practicing law for about two decades before he got the idea of a practice specializing in DUIs. In the mid-1980s, he converted the firm he had inherited from his father into what he says was the first law firm in the country to do only drunk driving cases. "Before that, I was defending drug cases and murder," Essen says. "There were some very bad people going back on the street. I never considered drunk driving to be a crime. I wanted to defend people I knew, people who just made a mistake and weren't criminals."
Essen has helped to define the technicalities that dominate DUI defense.
Pick any of the myriad details that cops use to try to prove an arrestee's drunkenness and Essen and Co. have a ready defense. Your eyes looked bloodshot when you were pulled over? Maybe it was from contact lenses that needed eye drops. A failed roadside sobriety test? It could have been the result of blinding lights from a patrol car. Did you slur your speech? Maybe you should have removed your ill-fitting dentures. There are always explanations.
There's even a simple, unassailable defense for the case of the drunk driver who falls asleep at the wheel -- perhaps like Tyler Lower, a 25-year-old golf attendant from Palm Beach Gardens. According to a February 25 arrest report, Lower didn't quite make it over a speed bump on Vision Terrace in Palm Beach Gardens. Cops found him slouched over the steering wheel, car running, transmission in drive, with his car paused on the upside of the speed bump. Cops say it took them 30 seconds to wake Lower up, after they had put his car in park. During sobriety tests, he reportedly said, "I can't do this sober." The Intoxilyzer claimed he was more than two times the legal limit, with a blood-alcohol level of .18 percent.
Lower's case was one of the 170 thrown out in Palm Beach County because of the Intoxilyzer maintenance problems. But if it hadn't been, Essen suggests an elegant response to the charges: The defendant was too tired to perform the tests.
Essen claims to have won 1,800 straight cases without a loss. His record has earned him the attention of the Wall Street Journal, which did a front-page profile of him in 1986. He has appeared in papers from Miami to San Francisco, on Oprah and CNN. A 60 Minutes profile called him the drunk driver's "best friend." He now boasts of a record for his law firm somewhere near 11,000 wins and about 100 losses. It's a number that's impossible to confirm, but if true, it means he's batting more than .900.
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