When law enforcement officers pull someone over in a traffic stop, sometimes they seek to administer a breath test, intended to quantify the driver’s blood-alcohol content. Of course, it’s possible to refuse to take the test. But there can be consequences for someone’s driver’s license either way.
For purposes of DUI defense which ericgjohnsonlaw.com handles, it’s important to realize that these break tests to gauge drunk driving are not necessarily always accurate. And one reason they are not necessarily accurate is because the machines used to give them are sometimes faulty.
In this respect, a recent Pennsylvania case has implications for DWI cases in New York and other states. In Dauphin County Pennsylvania, a district judge ruled that the “breathalyzer” machines used by authorities were not accurate in assessing blood-alcohol content (BAC) beyond .15 percent.
To be sure, a BAC that exceeds .15 indicates a high level of intoxication. But the judge found breathalyzer evidence to be of such questionable accuracy as to make it unusable for proving intoxication in cases of what Pennsylvania calls “high-rate” DUI.
This is merely one example of concerns about breath test machines. But it stands for a broader point. Such machines, of whatever model – breathalyzer, intoxilyzer, or some other model – are not infallible. When they are not programmed or calibrated properly, the results can be erroneous.
So if you are fighting a drunk driving charge on Long Island or elsewhere in New York State, don’t just assume the police have all the evidence they need against you. Breath test results can be challenged – and sometimes challenged successfully.