As anyone ever seen a number this high - or higher, before???


DUI suspect had highest alcohol level recorded

01:00 AM EDT on Wednesday, July 23, 2008

By Richard C. Dujardin

Journal Staff Writer

A North Providence (RI) man who crashed into a road sign late Monday was tested as having a blood-alcohol level six times the legal limit - believed to be the highest reading on a Breathalyzer in Rhode Island, according to the state police.

Stanley Kobierowski, 34, was tested after he crashed into an electronic message board on Route 95 near Providence Place. He tested at the scene with a blood-alcohol level of .489 and then .491. Kobierowski was released on personal recognizance after a bail hearing and will face another hearing Friday on charges of drunken driving and resisting arrest.

....

Two experts on detoxification and alcohol detection said later that in many ways, Kobierowski is lucky to be alive.

"For the average individual, there is a very severe risk of death when you start to approach a reading of .4," said James Harasymiw, director of Alcohol Detection Services in Big Bend, Wis. He is slated to speak at a conference in Washington next week on a new screening designed to detect people who have been drinking heavily over the previous four to six weeks even though they appear to be sober.

"He is in a very small class of people because most people - even heavy drinkers - would be unconscious or approaching death to get up to .5. The danger with this guy is that with that kind of tolerance, you may appear to be fine one moment and unconscious the next."

....

Amitava Dasgupta, a professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at the University of Texas-Houston Medical School, said much depends on the person's size. He said 15 years ago, he treated a man in Chicago who had a blood alcohol level of .8 - and survived. "The guy had been drinking all afternoon with his friends, then got into a car and had an accident."

Dasgupta said that for a man to reach a level of .491, he would have had to be drinking whiskey, rum or tequila - 6 to 10 shots - within two or three hours.

Harasymiw calculated it differently, estimating that the man would have had to have had roughly 24 drinks - defined as a 12-ounce glass of beer or a shot and a half of whiskey - over six hours.

Rest of article:
http://www.projo.com/ri/northprovidence/content/dui_bac_07-23-08_BLAV3UB_v22.411a2ee.html

I have a friend who prosecuted a man in Tarrant county several years ago who was arrested for DWI and the breath test showed a .43 something. The police were amazed he was still walking and talking, and took him directly to the emergency room. My friend put an expert on the stand to explain to the jurors why a person could still be conscious and walking with that high a BAC.

Janette A

Twice I've had people just over the .4 mark, both involved in accidents but both remained conscious.

The attorney for one of them told me that his guy didn't need a conviction he needed a medal. That defendant was actually a taxi driver who was on the clock in that state.