Police Use Stop Sticks to Catch Fleeing Driver

Police said that they “had” to use stop sticks to stop a fleeing driver who was driving nearly 100 mph. The driver was later caught after the stop sticks were deployed where the police conducted a field sobriety test. According to police, the driver failed a field sobriety test and a urine sample was taken which has gone to the lab for testing. The driver was charged with DUI pending the results of the urine test.

Urine Tests and Alcohol 

Interestingly, the police did not take a blood sample according to the article mentioned above. They instead opted for a urine test. This is interesting for two reasons. First of all, alcohol is detectable in the urine for up to 80 hours after your last drink. Of course, this doesn’t prove that you were drunk at the time of the accident. It only proves that you drank some time in the last 80 hours.

There are two tests used to measure alcohol using urinalysis. The first is the ethanol urine test. This test is generally used in recovery programs to test the level of abstinence of a former or recovering alcoholic. With this test, alcohol is detectable in the urine for up to 12 hours after the last drink but won’t appear in the urine until 2 hours after the first drink.

The second test used to measure alcohol is the EtG urine test. These are generally used for those who are on probation in recovery as they can detect alcohol in urine for up to 80 hours after the last drink. This test works by looking for ethyl glucuronide which is a chemical produced by the liver when alcohol is broken down.

For obvious reasons, neither of these tests are generally used for the purpose of determining a driver’s BAC. Firstly, it would be very difficult to determine the driver’s BAC given the presence of alcohol metabolites or ethanol in the urine. Instead, breathalyzer tests or blood tests are given to the suspected driver.

Why Give the Driver a Urine Test? 

Most drivers don’t know how these tests work or why they’re used. The EtG and ethanol tests are generally used for those who are on probation and must remain completely abstinent from alcohol. A breathalyzer only tests the amount of alcohol on your breath and would have a lookback period of a few hours. A blood test, similarly, tests the concentration of alcohol in your bloodstream and since your body metabolizes it quickly, the test only has a lookback period of a few hours.

While there’s very little that a lawyer could do about a reckless driving charge if the police are correct, the DUI charge in this case is vulnerable since the police used a urine test and not a blood test to test the driver’s BAC. There’s no way to prove from a urine test what the driver’s BAC was at the time he was pulled over.

Talk to an Orlando DUI Attorney 

If you’ve been charged with DUI in Orlando, call the Florida DUI defense attorneys at the Florida DUI Group today. We can help reduce your charges or get them tossed entirely.

Resource:

clickorlando.com/news/melbourne-police-use-stop-sticks-to-catch-fleeing-dui-suspect

https://www.flduigroup.com/do-i-have-to-take-a-field-sobriety-test-in-florida/