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On the night Austin police arrested his client, they made the wrong choice, he says – his opinion bolstered by a voluntary breath and blood test showing Larry Davis wasn’t intoxicated when he was arrested Jan. 13, 2013. He tested 0.00 on a Breathalyzer – the lowest possible reading -- and the blood test, which took months to be tested, came back negative.
The arrest meant Davis spent a day in jail, and he was left with a criminal case looming over him for more than a year. Because he was declared indigent at the time, the county picked up his legal fees of a few hundred dollars.
Police stand by their decision to arrest Davis. They contend it is still possible he was intoxicated with a drug, including marijuana, that may not have shown up in the blood test.
Their position: If you look drunk, you will be arrested and the court system will work it out in the future.
AliceBleachWhite
reply to post by buni11687
Considering that Austin is rife to saturation with a Hippie demographic that's particularly fond of recreational usage of things that don't show up on a breath test, it's quite probable the officers had probable cause to suspect intoxication.
Sure, the fellow gave blood, but, that's not a roadside test with instant get-out-jail-free results.
The police may have also just been total d-bags in getting overzealous with their imitation cowboy swaggering authority act, but, I didn't see any complaints about physical abuse, beating, taser shock, cavity searches, getting hog-tied (a Texas favorite), or any of the other things like shooting the man's dog that we so often see in these forums.
I suspect the guy was acting wonky enough to justify an "intoxicated" suspicion.
He was cleared of all charges too, so, sure, he was inconvenienced, but, innocent people do, on occasion, get pinched.
The police may have also just been total d-bags in getting overzealous with their imitation cowboy swaggering authority act, but, I didn't see any complaints about physical abuse, beating, taser shock, cavity searches, getting hog-tied (a Texas favorite), or any of the other things like shooting the man's dog that we so often see in these forums.
Davis is now working to have his arrest record wiped clean, a process that could take several more months.
stirling
You really are a staunch law and order sort of Alice aren't you?
THC would certainly show up on a blood test......
The "hippes" of Austin resent that slur....and say they don't indulge anymore than the rest of the 50% of America that does....
Besides THC is not exactly an impairment to driving..believe it or not...
AliceBleachWhite
Sure, the fellow gave blood, but, that's not a roadside test with instant get-out-jail-free results.
buni11687
reply to post by AliceBleachWhite
Davis is now working to have his arrest record wiped clean, a process that could take several more months.
Im assuming the guy is going to sue, and stands a good chance of winning some cash.
While at the station, Mr. Davis agreed to give a blood sample as well, to prove he was not under the influence of any drugs or alcohol. The results would later come back 100% negative
The Austin Police Department stands by the arrest, saying they believed Davis showed signs of impairment, that while standing on one leg, he “swayed,” and “needed his arms for balance.”
They also suggested that he could have been on marijuana, a drug that wouldn’t necessarily show up in a test.
She said she had a rough week -- and went out to see a movie at Lakeline around 6:30 Friday night.
She told KVUE News she had a few glasses of wine at the movie and then had a few more drinks.
AUSTIN — Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg will remain in her post after a judge on Wednesday denied a petition to remove her because of an April drunken driving arrest.
State District Judge David Peeples, visiting from San Antonio, sided with Lehmberg. She will remain the county’s top criminal prosecutor and continue to oversee Texas’ Public Integrity Unit, which handles cases involving public officials and is based in Austin.
Lehmberg, who last year was elected overwhelmingly to a second four-year term, was arrested April 12 after deputies found her driving erratically and an open bottle of vodka in her Lexus. At the jail, a video showed Lehmberg shouting orders to call the sheriff, kicking the door of her cell and sticking her tongue out at deputies videotaping her.
That video led to an investigation by a grand jury, which decided she should not be removed for official misconduct.
She was pressured to resign but refused, and Travis County Attorney David Escamilla eventually sought her removal, arguing that Lehmberg was unfit for office and could harm the public interest.
Her lawyers, however, said Lehmberg is more than capable and has stayed in office out of a sense of responsibility to the public.
The matter is still not fully over. Among those who felt Lehmberg should have resigned was Gov. Rick Perry, who threatened to withhold nearly $4 million in state funding for the Public Integrity Unit if she remained on the job. When she refused, Perry made good on his threat, which resulted in a still-ongoing lawsuit from a watchdog group that claimed Perry had abused his power.
buni11687
Then there's this....
They also suggested that he could have been on marijuana, a drug that wouldn’t necessarily show up in a test.
Lol! Seriously? Marijuana isn't a drug that shows up in drug tests, and a blood test of all tests out there? Especially in drug tests administered by police?!? Wow APD, just wow....
im·paired [im-paird]
adjective
1. weakened, diminished, or damaged: impaired hearing; to rebuild an impaired bridge.
2. functioning poorly or inadequately: Consumption of alcohol results in an impaired driver.
3. deficient or incompetent (usually preceded by an adverb or noun): morally impaired; sports-impaired.
Once again, there's NO QUICK test to rule out the abuse of other intakes.
His blood test came back negative ... LATER, which in turn exonerated him.
Police arrested him near U.S. 290 and Interstate 35 after he ran a stop sign, and officers wrote in an arrest affidavit that Davis, who told them he’d had only one drink, appeared intoxicated based on his performance in a field sobriety test.
Eckert was then put in "investigative detention" and transported around 2 p.m. to the Deming Police Department.
Sometime after that, a judge signed off a search warrant "to include but not limited to his anal cavity."
The next stop was Gila Regional Medical Center, where the lawsuit states "no drugs were found" in "an x-ray and two digital searches of his rectum by two different doctors." One doctor at this time found nothing unusual in his stool.
Three enemas were conducted on Eckert after 10:20 p.m. A chest X-ray followed, succeeded by a colonoscopy around 1:25 a.m.
After all this, "no drugs were found in or on Plaintiff's person," according to the lawsuit.
Because he "merely looked nervous during a traffic stop," the lawsuit claims that authorities ended up violating Eckert's constitutional right against unreasonable searches and seizures on a number of grounds.
defcon5
DWI as opposed to a DUI is used for this purpose. Even if you end up clear on all the tests, but you seem to be impaired in any way that makes you a danger behind the wheel of a vehicle, you can be charged with a DWI. I believe that even operation of a motor vehicle while too tired, or even while sick, is considered being “impaired”.
In case you don't know:
DUI=Driving Under the Influence
DWI=Driving while Impaired