California man fights DUI charge for driving under influence of caffeine

New Posts

S

SophieRose

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 8, 2011
Messages
2,915
Reaction score
3,017
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/dec/24/california-dui-caffeine-lawsuit-solano-county

Shcwab was driving home from work when he was pulled over by an agent from the California department of alcoholic beverage control, who was driving an unmarked vehicle. The agent said Schwab had cut her off and was driving erratically.

The 36-year-old union glazier was given a breathalyzer test which showed a 0.00% blood alcohol level, his attorney said. He was booked into county jail and had his blood drawn, but the resulting toxicology report came back negative for benzodiazepines, cocaine, opiates, THC, carisoprodol (a muscle relaxant), methamphetamine/MDMA, oxycodone, and zolpidem.

The sample was screened a second time by a laboratory in Pennsylvania, according to documents provided to the Guardian, where the sole positive result was for caffeine – a substance likely coursing through the veins of many drivers on the road at any given time.
 
SophieRose said:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/dec/24/california-dui-caffeine-lawsuit-solano-county

Shcwab was driving home from work when he was pulled over by an agent from the California department of alcoholic beverage control, who was driving an unmarked vehicle. The agent said Schwab had cut her off and was driving erratically.

The 36-year-old union glazier was given a breathalyzer test which showed a 0.00% blood alcohol level, his attorney said. He was booked into county jail and had his blood drawn, but the resulting toxicology report came back negative for benzodiazepines, cocaine, opiates, THC, carisoprodol (a muscle relaxant), methamphetamine/MDMA, oxycodone, and zolpidem.

The sample was screened a second time by a laboratory in Pennsylvania, according to documents provided to the Guardian, where the sole positive result was for caffeine – a substance likely coursing through the veins of many drivers on the road at any given time.
Click to expand...

Welp. Caffeine is legal. So he will beat the charge.

Too bad the dmv doesn't wait for confirmation of a guilty verdict before automatically suspending your license for a dui ,even before going to court. Jmo

So this guy may be innocent. But the dmv is still automatically going to suspend his license for 4 months. Jmo.
 
I found this part very interesting.


“The charge of driving under the influence is not based upon the presence of caffeine in his system,” she added.

Barrett counters that if the prosecution has evidence of a different drug in her client’s system, it should have to provided that to her, based on the rules governing criminal procedings.

“I have not been provided with any evidence to support a theory of prosecution for a substance other than caffeine at this time,” she said. “Nor I have received any statements, reports, etc documenting any ongoing investigation since the [toxicology report] dated 18 November 2015.”



Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
 
Caffeine? Vast majority of people have caffeine in their systems because it's present in so many drinks. So are we all guilty of DUI?
What a bizarre story.
 
Why not just ticket him for bad driving? why does a substance have to be named?
 
rob said:
Why not just ticket him for bad driving? why does a substance have to be named?
Click to expand...

Because the county and state collects more ducas / money for a dui rather then simply issuing a summons for distracted driving. Jmo.

Btw. Some cops don't want to be outside on a cold day. Or they try to meet a quota for career advancement purposes.

So imo. Some cops will exaggerate things for other reasons. Jmo
 
This is very strange. I can't help think there is something else going on here. Or else this is a DA office that just isn't paying attention to this case that is on auto-pilot heading for trial. If the later is the case it will likely be dismissed right before trial date. Based upon the news article (which we can't assume is telling the whole story) there is virtually no chance for a conviction. I can't believe any prosecutor would want to go to trial with this.
 
http://www.kcra.com/article/fairfield-man-tests-positive-for-caffeine-charged-with-dui/8541153

Agent Ott described seeing him “weaving in and out of traffic almost causing several collisions.” More seriously, she also believed he was under the influence of a drug.

“I was 100 percent confident that I was not under the influence of anything,” Schwab said.

Inside the car, Ott said she found a number of workout supplements, including powders. All of them were legal.

She conducted several field sobriety tests and found Schwab’s pupils were dilated.
“The driver seemed very amped up, very agitated, very combative, and she thought he was under the influence of something,” Solano County District Attorney Krishna Abrams said.
 
SophieRose said:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/dec/24/california-dui-caffeine-lawsuit-solano-county

Shcwab was driving home from work when he was pulled over by an agent from the California department of alcoholic beverage control, who was driving an unmarked vehicle. The agent said Schwab had cut her off and was driving erratically.

The 36-year-old union glazier was given a breathalyzer test which showed a 0.00% blood alcohol level, his attorney said. He was booked into county jail and had his blood drawn, but the resulting toxicology report came back negative for benzodiazepines, cocaine, opiates, THC, carisoprodol (a muscle relaxant), methamphetamine/MDMA, oxycodone, and zolpidem.

The sample was screened a second time by a laboratory in Maryland online dui classes
, according to documents provided to the Guardian, where the sole positive result was for caffeine – a substance likely coursing through the veins of many drivers on the road at any given time.
Click to expand...

Hello
The most common test given to drivers who are suspected of drinking and driving is a breath test or a Breathalyzer test. Although this type of testing for DUI during an arrest is common, it is not the only option officers have to determine a driver’s Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) – officers also have the option to test an individual’s urine or blood as well for a suspected DUI or DWI charge offense
 
Charges have been dropped and the case dismissed.

http://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/Prosecutor-drops-DUI-charge-on-man-who-tested-10826042.php

According to this article, the DA indicated that the lab thought there was some other drug, but couldn't prove it. I'm not sure I'm really buying that, may just be a CYA statement by the DA, but at least they dropped charges. Poor guy has spent a fortune probably in attorney fees and likely has a suspended drivers license right now. Hopefully he is a more careful driver now though. The police will be looking for him in the future. My question is why the police or DA didn't just drop the DUI early on and cite him for careless driving or something.
 
There is a video linked on the thread in which DA was going to try DUI case arguing that he was on some sort of drug but toxicology didn't pick that.
Sure sounds like the case was going nowhere, but without all the publicity who knows, the guy might have gone on trial.
 
SophieRose said:
http://www.kcra.com/article/fairfield-man-tests-positive-for-caffeine-charged-with-dui/8541153

Agent Ott described seeing him “weaving in and out of traffic almost causing several collisions.” More seriously, she also believed he was under the influence of a drug.

“I was 100 percent confident that I was not under the influence of anything,” Schwab said.

Inside the car, Ott said she found a number of workout supplements, including powders. All of them were legal.

She conducted several field sobriety tests and found Schwab’s pupils were dilated.
“The driver seemed very amped up, very agitated, very combative, and she thought he was under the influence of something,” Solano County District Attorney Krishna Abrams said.
Click to expand...



Re BBM

JMO
He may have had too much of a totally legal substance so she was probably wrong to assume it was an illegal substance.

Im thinking he had too many of those energy drinks or other legal drinks and probably just had too much of it which caused his erradic driving.

The officer probably could have ticketed him during the stop for "wreckless driving" but the officer made a wrong decision thinking he was on something illegal.

I am glad the guy was not rail roaded for something he didnt do although he probably was drivining erradically but that should have just been a wreckless driving ticket and nothing more.

Now he doesnt get any ticket which is the right thing to happen since officer messed up and assumed something that didnt happen.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

DNASolves

Who is Escambia County John Doe (1989)?

Members online

... and 204 more.
Total: 3,562 (members: 205, guests: 3,357)

Online statistics

Members online
205
Guests online
3,357
Total visitors
3,562
Totals may include hidden visitors.

Forum statistics

Threads
592,250
Messages
17,966,144
Members
228,733
Latest member
jbks
Back
Top