Lawyer Reveals How Police ‘Accidentally’ Increase A Driver’s Blood Alcohol Level During A Traffic Stop
Just take an Uber instead!
RossHelen | Shutterstock The Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) scale, used to determine levels of intoxication, varies from person to person based on gender, weight, the size of the drink, the type of drink, and whether or not the person ate before drinking. That's why, in cases where law enforcement needs to determine impairment, they use a variety of factors to make a determination, like field sobriety exercises and Breath Alcohol Content (BrAC).
According to John Collins, a lawyer based out of Arkansas, the only true test to determine a driver's BAC is a blood test. He argued in a recent TikTok that a breathalyzer's results can be impacted by, not only the inconsistent breathing of the person being tested, but also, the cleanliness of the police officer's hands administering the test.
A lawyer claimed that police officers could inadvertently increase a driver’s blood alcohol levels if they use hand sanitizer before administering a breathalyzer test.
According to Collins, if the cop who pulled you over for suspicion of driving under the influence is a germaphobe and used hand sanitizer to clean his hands before administering a breathalyzer, then chances are your test will see a spike in its results.
In a TikTok video, Collins demonstrated the hand sanitizer experiment. Collins administered the test on himself to prove that he hadn't been drinking and his results indicated just that with a 0.00% reading. Collins then did a second test in his experiment, but this time, he cleaned his hands with Purell hand sanitizer before using the meter again. The results indicated 0.012% in breath alcohol content.
The lawyer argued that the skewed results could have a huge impact on drivers who are smaller than the average adult or anyone who had a glass of wine with dinner.
0.012% on the BAC Scale is the equivalent of having one beer and half a glass of wine to the average-sized adult. According to the Department of Transportation, the legal limit in the United States is 0.08% on the BAC scale. So why did the meter spike up after Collins put hand sanitizer on?
Well, hand sanitizer, particularly Purell, contains 70% ethyl alcohol, an ingredient present in all alcoholic beverages. It's only natural if the officer used hand sanitizer immediately before administering the test, the result could potentially be skewed. For drivers who are smaller than the average adult, those results could certainly be higher.
According to a national survey conducted by the Department of Transportation, drivers admitted to operating a car within 2 hours of drinking alcohol close to one billion times annually. It's likely many of those respondents had one glass of wine with dinner at a restaurant. Imagine for a moment if hand sanitizer was used in a traffic stop for a driver who had one glass of wine. Chances are high they would blow over .08%.
Thankfully, roadside breath tests or PBTs are not admissible in court.
When a police officer suspects a driver may be impaired, they need to establish probable cause to make an arrest. In order to do so, they have a protocol to follow which protects everyone involved. Field sobriety tests are the first step, and, as law firm Branks & Bower noted, the subsequent administering of PBTs are used as "screening tools" to establish probable cause.
kali9 | Canva Pro
They are not as reliable as what the firm labeled "chemical tests," which can be admissible in court. Chemical tests usually involve a blood draw, urine test, or a much more sophisticated breath test that cannot be administered roadside.
So, while Collins' experiment seemed alarming at first, the truth is, even if the use of hand sanitizer puts you over the legal limit for consumption, taking a chemical test will offer clear results. But if you don't want the hassle of being arrested for driving under the influence, you always have the option of taking an Uber.
Sylvia Ojeda is an author with a decade of experience writing novels and screenplays. She covers self-help, relationships, culture, and human interest topics.