Public intox.

[CarlJay89]

Iowa.

I know this is not in the correct forum section, but from the selection I saw this was the best choice.

This evening my younger brother was at a football game, and 10 minutes after he paid his ticket to get in a police officer approached him and said that he had heard complaints that my brother was drinking. He had not been drinking at all, and had no alcohol on him or in his vehicle. When breathalyzed he blew a .017. He was cited for public intoxication and I am unbelievably pissed about this. I am telling him to plead not guilty, the cops in this town dislike my brother and harass him at every opportunity. Please give positive advice only. In our state a .08 is legal to drive. Explain to me why a .017 is illegal.

 

[cyjeff]

If your brother is under the age of 21, any amount is illegal.

Public intoxication doesn't have a BAC requirement.


If he hadn't been drinking, where did the .017 come from?

 

[FlyingRon]

If your brother is under the age of 21, any amount is illegal.

Public intoxication doesn't have a BAC requirement.


If he hadn't been drinking, where did the .017 come from?

The sad truth is that readings below 0.02% BAC are unreliable. Small amounts of naturally fermentation go on in the body all the time even if you've not been drinking.

Further, the way the Iowa statute is written, I don't see how he can be written up just on "internal possession." He'd actually have to be witnessed drinking. The hearsay that he had isn't sufficient. The state would need a witness that actually saw it.

 

[CdwJava]

I have never seen a reading above .000 for people who have not been drinking, and am not aware of any "natural fermentation" that might occur yo cause such a false reading.

There is an error rate of +/- .02 on these devices, so that may be where the unreliability comes from, but even that tends to require at least a minimal amount of alcohol.

My guess is that the youngster had been drinking when the older brother was nt aware of it. Kids mix alcohol in sodas or water bottles with some frequency. It might even be that junior was not aware he was drinking. But, if he was behaving in such a way as to attract attention, something was happening.

 

[OHRoadwarrior]

Some people have systemic reactions that can metabolize sugar or sucralose into alcohol. I have no idea if this is what happened or he was drinking. It is certainly worth challenging IMO.