Man Claims Dry Burp Flawed Breath Test

[snopes]

A man arrested for allegedly driving drunk is fighting to get his license back, saying his breath test was flawed because he was burping at the time.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20070912/D8RK5SEG1.html

[lord_feldon]

Couldn't someone just keep burping every 19 minutes under those rules and never have to take the test? I would imagine that someone could do it enough to be sober by the time they took it.

[Silas Sparkhammer]

I once served on a jury on the trial of a man on a charge of driving under the influence of alcohol. His lawyer tried to argue the same thing in court, and the prosecution's expert witness explained that this would not affect the reading of the device that measures blood alcohol levels by testing the breath.

The jury found the suspect guilty as charged.

Silas

[geminilee]

I found a few sites that suggest that false positives are possible with breathalyzers, depending if the person has recently been eating or drinking, or using mouthwash. I would imagine, from extrapolation, that if you had recently drunk some alcohol, belching would bring up air from the stomach that contained a higher concentration of aresolyzed alcohol and produce a false positive.
From a site that sells them for personal use

Inaccurate readings: Please make sure you wait at least 20 minutes after eating any food, drinking any liquids, or smoking. A common cause of false readings is alcohol-based mouthwash. Air in the mouth is filled with substances that affect the reading negatively. True readings use as much lung air as possible.

From North Carolina Wesleyan College

Physical Condition of Suspect - a variety of things affect accurate readout, including: (snip) Gastric reflux - if the suspect has gas or indigestion

If the suspect complained at the time of the arrest, they should have had a blood test done, since those are less likely to be subject to errors.

hmmm using mouthwash??...how could that be...your not swallowing it

[A Turtle Named Mack]

Originally Posted by prrrfukt

hmmm using mouthwash??...how could that be...your not swallowing it

It coats the mouth and stays in increased quantities for a significant period of time.

There was a lawyer in this area who had a drinking problem, and made a point of keeping a sealed pint of liquor in the car. When he got pulled over, which happened often enough, he would stop the car, drop the keys outside the car, lock the doors, wait until the officer was watching him, and then make sure he was seen guzzling the entire pint of liquor. Then he would open the door and deal with the police officer. The breathalyzer or any blood test would be elevated, but they could not prove it was while he was driving. He did not have the keys when he guzzled the pint, so he was not in control of the vehicle at that point, so he could not get a DUI. He would get a small fine for an 'open container' violation, but that was nothing compared to getting a DUI. WARNING - this is a trick for professional drunks only!

[KirkMcD]

Originally Posted by A Turtle Named Mack

The breathalyzer or any blood test would be elevated, but they could not prove it was while he was driving.

Yeah, you could. Based on the current BAC and the amount of alcohol ingested at the scene and the known rate of absorption and the person body weight, you could come up with a BAC level for before you were stopped. But that's probably to complicated for most DAs to even bother with.

[Mycroft]

From the British real police stories I have seen, if someone is stopped they ask if the person had drunk anything in the last 20 minutes before using the roadside breathometer. Also this only gives an indication of intoxication and further tests have to be made at the police station with a meter that gives a direct readout (and two readings have to be made, the lower of which is then used),all of which of course gives more time for the possibility of erroneous reading to be eliminated.

[Eve MG]

Originally Posted by Silas Sparkhammer

I once served on a jury on the trial of a man on a charge of driving under the influence of alcohol. His lawyer tried to argue the same thing in court, and the prosecution's expert witness explained that this would not affect the reading of the device that measures blood alcohol levels by testing the breath.

The jury found the suspect guilty as charged.

Silas

My husband was on a jury in a similar situation, although the defendant kept burping every 20 minutes, as lord_felon suggested. The jury/court saw a tape of this, and apparently the defendant would even say things like, "Oh, I burped. Can't test me now." The police did hold off on the breathalyzer, and eventually took him for a blood test.

They found him guilty as well.

[Bryan With a 'Y']

Originally Posted by A Turtle Named Mack

It coats the mouth and stays in increased quantities for a significant period of time.

There was a lawyer in this area who had a drinking problem, and made a point of keeping a sealed pint of liquor in the car. When he got pulled over, which happened often enough, he would stop the car, drop the keys outside the car, lock the doors, wait until the officer was watching him, and then make sure he was seen guzzling the entire pint of liquor. Then he would open the door and deal with the police officer. The breathalyzer or any blood test would be elevated, but they could not prove it was while he was driving. He did not have the keys when he guzzled the pint, so he was not in control of the vehicle at that point, so he could not get a DUI. He would get a small fine for an 'open container' violation, but that was nothing compared to getting a DUI. WARNING - this is a trick for professional drunks only!

Sounds to me like he'd be begging for some kind of obstruction of justice charge, or at least evidence tampering. And most bar associations take a dim view of either of those.

[Floater]

I remember a case when a driver had somehow landed beside the road with his car. His explanation for the level of alcohol in his blood was that while he was sitting there hanging upside down in his seat belt and waiting for rescue, he had managed to drink one whole bottle of punch (Swedish punch is a sickly sweet liquor). He even demonstrated that he could do it, but for some reason the court didn't believe him.