Reader’s Question:
A friend of mine got arrested in Los Angeles, California because of DUI. He had a slurred speech according to the police report. Can a slurred speech be used as evidence in a DUI trial?
Alonzo
Los Angeles, CA
Just like the odor of alcohol on the breath of a person arrested for DUI, a very few police reports would fail to include an observation by the police officer that the person arrested exhibited “slurred speech” during the DUI arrest. The police officer usually expects to hear slurred speech in a person whom he/she suspects as intoxicated or driving under the influence, particularly after smelling alcohol on the breath. Also, it would be a psychological fact that we tend to “hear” what we expect to hear. And upon hearing a slurred speech, it supplies the police officer with a proof of his suspicions that the person was indeed intoxicated, and thus driving under the influence.
Assuming that the police officer was honest that your friend who was arrested for DUI in Los Angeles, California had a slurred speech during the DUI arrest, there is little evidence that this is a symptom of intoxication. For example, impairment of speech, even when sober, is a common reaction to the stress, fear and nervousness that a police investigation would be expected to happen. Fatigue is also a well-known cause of having a slurred speech. A study of phonetician showed that even self-proclaimed experts are not good at estimating people’s alcohol levels by the way they talk.
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Reader’s Question:
My husband was charged with DUI here in California. He insists that he never drive drunk. He is diabetic and according to his attorney, if he experiences hypoglycemia, he may look like drunk. Is it true that the breath test conducted can clear him?
Diana
Daly City, CA
Police officers in California have no inherent skill and little training in detecting levels of intoxication. They are actually psychologically predisposed in a drunk driving investigation to “see” what they expect to see, disregarding any alternative explanations.
One of those possibilities is that if a diabetic experience hypoglycemia or low blood sugar levels. Symptoms of this include poor balance, staggering, slow and slurred speech, impaired motor control, flushed face, disorientation and drowsiness which are also the typical symptoms of alcohol intoxication. If this is the case, the driver will look and act like a drunk driver to the police officer and will fail any “field sobriety tests”.
A breath test will not clear him. Breathalyzer use infrared beams of light which are absorbed by any chemical compound (including ethyl alcohol) in the breath which contains the “methyl group” in its molecular structure. The machine assumes that the compound is “probably” alcohol. One of the thousands of compounds containing the methyl group which can register as alcohol is “acetone”. A by-product of hypoglycemia is a state called “ketoacidosis”, which causes the production of acetone in the breath. This means that the Breathalyzer will read significant blood alcohol levels on a diabetic’s breath where there may be little or none.
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