Jury Rejects Drunk Driver’s Explanation That His Booze Breath Was From Beer-Battered Fish

[Miles Archer]

http://www.thedailymeal.com/eat/jury-rejects-drunk-driver-s-explanation-his-booze-breath-was-beer-battered-fish/021016

A jury in Wisconsin has rejected a drunk driver’s explanation that he smelled of alcohol during a traffic stop because of the beer-battered fish he’d eaten earlier that day.

According to a police report obtained by the Smoking Gun, the driver, 76-year-old John Przybyla, was driving with a revoked license, and was visibly intoxicated at the time of his traffic stop.

“I told John I could smell an odor of alcohol emitting from his breath and asked him how much he had to drink,” the police report reads. “John said he had not been drinking. I asked John where he was coming from and going to. John said he had been at a fish fry on STH 02 [Wisconsin Highway 28] and was going home. I asked John how much (alcohol) he had to drink and he said he wasn’t drinking and had beer-battered fish.”

The officer also noted that there was an open can of beer in the passenger’s seat.

[rug]

1. Where was the breath or blood test results?

I wouldn't convict solely on a cop's alleged observations without an answer to that.

[47of74]

2. They did take a blood test afterwards.

The Smoking Gun article mentioned stated that a nurse did draw blood for testing purposes.

They also mentioned Mr. Przybyla wasn't too happy about having the blood drawing, and that he was going to sue them because getting blood drawn was against his religion.

I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that Mr. Przybyla is a Catholic, and I don't know of any Catholic prohibitions against drawing blood for such purposes.

[rug]

3. Oh, I see. His blood level was .062, below the legal limit.

They brought the charge because in Wisconsin a repeat offender can be charged with a .02.

He can't sue for religion but he can sue if the blood was forcibly drawn. Every state I know requires the police to issue a warning that if they refuse a breath or blood test, they can lose their license in a separate civil hearing. But they can't use force to draw blood unless they have a search warrant - for the driver's blood.

[mackerel]

4. Revoked license and beer in the car doesn't help his case much.