Sobriety test demonstrates DUI impairment

Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2003 | 9:39 a.m.

Deputy District Attorney Keith Brower, who has prosecuted drunken drivers, said he knew better than to get behind the wheel of a car Monday after belting down glasses of straight vodka.

Still, he drank and drove before Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Steven Gordon gave him a field sobriety test -- which he failed. Then Brower was given a breathalyzer test, which recorded a 0.13 blood alcohol level.

"I would have stopped at 0.06 because I felt too impaired to drive at that level," a smiling Brower said. "You really can feel when you are over the limit and under the influence."

Despite his drunkenness, Brower did not break the law. He was one of several attorneys and local media members who participated Monday in a test conducted by the Nevada Highway Patrol at a Las Vegas Motor Speedway driving course.

The 0.08 Project, conducted in conjunction with Stop DUI, was designed to demonstrate DUI impairment and to educate the public about the lower 0.08 blood alcohol level that went into effect this morning.

"I not only would be legally drunk (today), but I'm also over the current legal limit of 0.10," Brower said after Gordon showed him the results of his third breathalyzer test.

"Because of my position in the community, I would never drive on the road in the condition I am in now."

Brower had consumed two four-ounce glasses of vodka when the blood alcohol measuring device showed he measured 0.06. He had consumed another four ounces in about an hour and a half of drinking when he measured 0.13 on the scale.

Fellow Deputy District Attorney Marc DiGiacomo, who tempered his vodka with cranberry juice during the test period, said after consuming two four-ounce drinks and recording a 0.06 reading, "I am too impaired to drive."

The volunteer test participants drove through a winding course as fast and as safe as they could then returned to a garage at the speedway where they consumed glasses of hard liquor before each course run.

The test was conducted over a two-hour period to avoid the risk of alcohol poisoning. The participants were driven home by sober drivers, test officials said.

"He (Brower) showed at least four signs of impairment," Gordon said before Brower's third ride of the day. "His eyes were twitching and on two of his steps he could not walk a straight line.

"There is a misconception that people fail the test because they fall all over the place when they try to walk a straight line. That's not always the case. I've had a lot of (drunk) people argue that they passed the test. They just don't know what we are looking for."

During the sobriety test, the DUI suspect follows a moving pen with his eyes. An inebriated person's eyeball twitches slightly when it is pointed either to the extreme right or left -- an involuntary action caused by the eye muscle weakened from impairment.

Also, while some drunk people can walk a pretty straight line, they tend to drift slightly off the line, which tells an officer that they may be drunk.

As the drivers became drunk Monday, their reflexes slowed as did their times on the course.

While Brower did not knock over any cones during his third ride with a Sun reporter in the back seat observing, his motions behind the wheel were jerky and he failed to follow an instruction given by the official observer in the front passenger seat.

Brower said he could tell his third ride was nowhere near as smooth as when he was sober.

"This was my second ride today in the green car," he said.

The car was gray.

Other participants in the test included Deputy District Attorney David Schubert, local private attorneys Jason Wiener, Geoarge Trachtman and John Wright and media personalities Doug Marsh of KOMP 92.3 FM and Kim Holcum of KVVU Channel 5 (Fox).