Driver Charged With Driving on Insulin

A driver whose diabetic coma triggered a tragic accident killing two people in San Jose last year now faces vehicular manslaughter charges for driving while intoxicated.

But unlike run-of-the-mill DUI cases, prosecutors say this driver was intoxicated not with alcohol, but with too much insulin.

The defendant, 52-year-old John Mayfield, is pleading not guilty, according to his attorney, Allen Ruby. Mayfield will be arraigned this afternoon. If convicted, Mayfield could be sentenced to a maximum of 16 years and eight months.

"Insulin is a drug," said Deputy DA Peter Waite. "It's illegal to drive with a drug that impairs your ability to drive. If you need to take [insulin], that's fine, but you shouldn't be an impaired driver."

When Mayfield was pulled from the truck after the explosion, he had very low blood glucose, Waite said. Insulin maintains low blood glucose levels, but too much insulin can drop the blood sugar level dangerously low, which can lead to a diabetic coma. The prosecutor contends Mayfield was responsible for testing his blood glucose level before he drove.

Mayfield flipped his truck last July as he exited a freeway ramp in downtown San Jose . His truck landed sideways, slamming into another truck where a young couple was waiting for a traffic light. Both trucks exploded, and the two passengers Mayfield directly hit — Mary Bernstein and Robert Conway — were killed. Seven others were injured. In addition to the two counts of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, Mayfield is also charged with driving under the influence while causing injury.


'However well-trained you are and however smart and conscientious you are, you’re not a computer. You’re not God. You can’t automatically perfectly take the right amount of insulin every time you take a shot.'

— Kriss Halpern
Santa Monica attorney


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Santa Monica attorney Kriss Halpern has represented nearly 100 diabetic clients fighting suspended driver's licenses for having low blood sugar levels. Halpern said he could not comment on this particular case because he didn't know all the details, but the prosecution' s general argument didn't sit well with him.

Prosecuting a case by comparing insulin to alcohol or other recreational drugs is "outrageous," he said. "You take your insulin because you need it to survive."

And preventing accidents isn't as simple as checking your blood sugar before you drive, Halpern said.

A CHP spokesman confirmed that its accident report showed that Mayfield had checked his blood sugar level before the accident, found it was too high, and gave himself a dose of insulin before heading to San Jose .

While some diabetics can sense low blood sugar coming on, others, particularly those suffering from hypoglycemic unawareness, can't, said Halpern, who has Type I diabetes. Waite said he did not know whether Mayfield suffered from this particular condition.

"However well-trained you are and however smart and conscientious you are, you're not a computer. You're not God," Halpern said. "You can't automatically perfectly take the right amount of insulin every time you take a shot."

A low blood sugar reaction can hit very suddenly, Halpern said, which is not the same as a drunk who didn't care enough to call a taxi.

In People v. Keith, 184 Cal.App.2d Supp 884, a 1960 court of appeal opinion cited by Assistant DA David Tomkins, the court stressed that the legal basis for a DUI conviction is not the drug or how "innocently a person may get 'under the influence,'" but the defendant's decision to drive.

"I don't think any driver who drives under the influence of anything . . . really means to kill anybody or hurt anybody," Tomkins said.

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