Rising BAC

I would also like to know a bit more on the theory of a rising BAC.
When I was initially pulled over and given a field breath test, I blew a .09 at 11:20PM. I had a cognac not 30 minutes before this test. When we went to the PD for the real test, I blew a .08 at 12:20AM. I also had blood drawn to be tested as well. The blood was drawn one hour after the PD breath test at 1:07AM and the results were .08 again. My stomach was full being I last had completed a long dinner at 10:30PM.
What I'm thinking, or hoping is that I may not have been legally intoxicated at the time of my detainment, but apparently was an hour or more after the arrest by show of the PD breath test.
Any advise and or opinions will be helpful.
Thanks again, Robert.

What type of argument were you looking for? All of your readings were above the legal limit of .08 %.
All of the tests were given in what seems to be a reasonable period of time. The results of the tests were all very close, showing consistancy.
You admit you were drinking and driving...take the deal, and go on with your life, and learn a lesson....DON'T DRINK AND DRIVE!!!

I'm not looking for a "deal" here. Nor am I looking for a preacher. I'm looking for advise on rising BAC levels. I had two alcoholic beverages in four hours. I had wine with dinner about 9PM and had the cognac just before I left the restaurant. It is very possible that the cognac's alcoholic content was still in my stomach producing a higher BAC level in the breath test than of that actually in my blood stream. Thus my asking. If my BAC level in the breath test was .08, should it remain this amount up to two hours later in my blood test?

Thanks.

Narlybob

There are some studies on BACs on the web and you will find plenty of explanation there. You will also find that you had been drinking far more than one Cognac, even if your last one was 30 minutes before you were stopped, even with a full stomach.

editing note: think along the lines of absorption and excretion. alcohol absorbs directly from the stomach, excretes through the lungs and the circulation; with successive drinks, the BAC rises with one drink, starts to go down, rises again with the next drink, starts to go back down (but now it has further to go), and keep applying this principle until you get to 0.9 after 30 minutes; and a drop to 0.8 after one hour. with only one drink, that's probably impossible unless it was some of that good old mountain dew.

Thanks Ellencee,

I have a DUI situation which probably occurs in a great deal of cases. I was out to dinner with a few guests, had two drinks with my meal over what I "assumed" a safe rate to not interfere with my driving abilities.
Which it did not. I was pulled over for allowing traffic to pass. Since when is yielding to right of way illegal?
Stopped by an officer which bragged about the highest rate of DUI stops and arrests in the entire county, and was "detained" for DUI.
He saw me pull out from the restaurant parking lot. I did the feild tests and passed all and in the police report it was stated as normal on all but one. The count to thrity with my head back and eyes closed. I was off by a few seconds. I didn't know I had to be a human stop watch too.
This can and will happen to a great amount of people who dine out. One or two glasses of wine with dinner can land you in a locked cell!!
Yeah, I see justice here.
What I see is I will not be dining out like this again. I will never spend a dime in the same town again. Nor will I dine out. I will become more of a recluse if I ever want to have a beer, glass of wine or any alcoholic beverage. If I do decide to have a drink, It will be in the comfort of my own home. I will keep my money from going into the general populous.
I guess when it comes to the law and DUI's, you are in the wrong no matter. The hostility over drunk drivers is understood. But for someone as myself who tried to follow the rules and regulations will be penalized as a true drunk driver.
Is this Justice?

I really need help on my other post. This was just a matter of locating information on rising BAC.
Which, I have yet to locate or received a post for. I have done many, many searches and just can't find "detailed" info.
Thanks again.

I'll see what I can do to help you locate some information. There is a study, which is included in text books for criminal justice studies, that I recently read. I was proofing a term paper for a young lady; not that it matters, really.
I think I can get you get the name of the author. I know the author's work is published in more than one form, and it is on the web.
Several other web articles on BAC were included in her paper, but they were from the mathmatical websites for formulas on calculating BAC and breathalyzer testing. Try searching under math terms.

What's your other post?

i've heard,but don't know it to be true,that certain types of breath mints can raise the breathalizer BAC reading temporarily.

Are you saying that to cover up his Cognac breath, Narlybob crunched a 'Certs' before he provided the breathalyzer specimen?

Narybob was being a slow driver that night in order to be cautious. Unfortunately for Narlybob, the officer recognized this protective behavior and stopped him. Sure hope he didn't have a 'Certs' available and made his troubles worse.

Actually I am an Altoid's chomper, but that will not be a factor here.
I am not looking for that magic pill to get out of this. I am responsible for my actions, but feel I was a bit railroaded into this one. I'm 36 and have had my share of drinking here and there, and know when I am even buzzed, never mind drunk. I was neither at the time.
If my BAC says .08, then so be it. BUT, what I am looking for is an explanation as to why my tests would all be the same for the minimal two hour span of the tests. It just seems a bit odd to me.
I have as well seen the charts and graphs on the consumption of alcohol per my weight and time factors. But they just don't click. Apparently if I cannot find this on my own, it will have to be analyzed by a chemist or professional in the area of BAC and if there was a rising factor involved. This has been one of many sites I have come across, and it looked as if there was intelligent life to ask these questions. It has been helpful, but my research must continue. So, here I sit at the keyboard hunting for that certain fact and or testimony about rising BAC's. Thanks again Ellencee. ;o)
Curtisd, I sure hope your not in law school. jk. Thanks for the suggestion.
BTW, my other post was in regards to subpoena's and how and if I can apply/file for this myself.

Narlybob
Good choice on the Altoids.
Tell me why you are interested in the factor of the rising BAC.
Maybe it will help me understand the rationale of our search.

Actually you BAC rises later. For example say you had a drink right before you left the restaruant, if you were stopped right away it would not be very high. But say you were stopped 30 minutes later, it would read higher because it has had time to go through you system.

Yes, if you go out to dinner and have 2 glasses of wine and get stopped, in today's time you can get pulled over for DWI.

That is how the laws are now written. Soon we shall be back in the days of prohibition where consumption of liqour will become illegal again.

History, as they say repeats itself.

And so it goes.....

ellencee said:

Are you saying that to cover up his Cognac breath, Narlybob crunched a 'Certs' before he provided the breathalyzer specimen?

Narybob was being a slow driver that night in order to be cautious. Unfortunately for Narlybob, the officer recognized this protective behavior and stopped him. Sure hope he didn't have a 'Certs' available and made his troubles worse.

Click to expand...

ellencee- no,i said that breathalyzer tests may be distorted.
narybob-you're badly mistaken if you thought me saying "i've heard but don't know it to be true" remotely resembles trying to act as a lawyer.and if you're not looking for a magic pill-quit asking for one.one other thing-did you use the same PD breathalyzer machine each time and were they currently calibrated?

come on folks, let think this out.....
early after alcohol intake, especially Cognac, alcohol vapors are going to be strong, strong, strong--coming from both the upper GI tract and the lungs; one glass of champagne can end you with a DUI because of the vapors and the lung's excretions of the champagne.
Narlybob ate a hugh meal and had several drinks. The food will slow the absorption of the alcohol not immediately absorbed from the mouth, the throat, and the upper stomach, but it will not negate the absorption of the alcohol. Thus, as time and digestion move forward, the alcohol level will increase, more slowly than on an empty stomach as the alcohol slows digestion, so over a longer period of time, the person would have gotten drunker and drunker--although on a full stomach, he may not have felt the effects until the next morning, when the food that sat there undigested in a 98.6 degree oven, returned.
(I have a friend that says she figured out why some toilet seats have that open area in the front--it's a neck support!)

curtisd
I was just having fun, not challenging you! I thought you were adding some enlightenment, too. I apologize for misreading your intent.

Ellencee, you hit the nail right on the head. Cognac is like the high octane gas of alcohol's. Very strong especially the vapor content. My assumption is when I blew into the field breath test, it was definitely higher than what was being absorbed into my blood stream. With a full meal in my belly, it must take longer to pass into the blood stream. (this is the type of evidence I am looking for) I know the field breath test is not quite an accurate form of measuring the amount of alcohol, but gives them a rough idea of what may be in my body.
Let me ask this. This is on opinion only unless you had evidence stating otherwise. Lets say I drank a vodka and soda with ice in it instead of a straight cognac. Do you think the breath test would have been the same?

As Stormy stated, the BAC would rise later as it enters my blood stream. This is my second point of research. Of course I did not get blood drawn at the moment of my being in my vehicle, but how accurate would the results be if I blew a breathalyzer and had blood drawn at the exact same time??? What are the chances they would match?
I do not understand how my breath test would be .08 and an hour and a half later, my blood was drawn and tested the exact same. Is it to be assumed my BAC level would remain .08 for several hours?

The breathalyzer was calibrated and used on both tests. I'm not sure how to read it, but it's calibration was .103. Air blanks and operator tests were also used. All .000

Here is one last thing. The breathalyzer was used at 12:20 AM and read .08. I was field tested at 11:20-11:25PM at .09. If the rising factor was as Stormy stated, then theoretically the second test should have been higher.
I need to figure out how my peaks and lows can be charted as evidence perhaps.

Thanks all. Your being very helpful.

Narlybob
Here's a site with the formula for calculating BAC, over a period of time-I think it's what you want to know, and it's the mathmatical forumla that I mentioned in an earlier post. Go to the site and use the chart; see if it helps answer your question.

http://www.drunkdrivingdefense.com/general/bac.htm

How To Calculate Your Estimated
Blood Alcohol Content (BAC)
Showing estimated percent of alcohol in the blood by number of drinks in relation to body weight. This percent can be estimated by:

1. Count your drinks (1 drink equals 1 ounce of 100-proof liquor, one five ounce glass of table wine or one 12-ounce bottle of regular beer).

2. Use the chart below and under number of "drinks" and opposite "body weight" find the percent of blood alcohol listed.

3. Subtract from this number the percent of alcohol "burned up" during the time elapsed since your first drink. This figure is .015% per hour. (Example: 180 lb. man - 8 drinks in 4 hours / .167% minus (.015x4) = .107 %

Another site has some information on rising BAC, which they refer to as a "rising curve":
http://www.forcon.ca/learning/approved_inst.html

Another site is educational and humurous, and a police web site: and I copied one paragraph for you.
http://www.ou.edu/oupd/bac.htm

"Ok, but if I eat a BIG meal before drinking, won't that help keep me from getting drunk?"

How much you have eaten, and how recently, may have a small effect on how quickly or slowly the alcohol you consume will enter your bloodstream — but it won't stop the alcohol from entering. If you drink too much, you will become intoxicated. There may be, however, a direct correlation between the size of your meal and how much of your meal may be found later in patrol cars and jail cells.