We stopped a white Lexus for making the illegal left turn from Westheimer onto S. Shepherd. The vehicle stopped in the BookStop parking lot. Tray, my current rookie approaches the driver's side and tells the female driver that she was stopped for making an illegal left turn where prohibited by sign. He then asks for her driver's license and proof of insurance which she provides. I have walked around the front of the car from the passenger side and join him on the driver's side. He then asks if she still lives at the address on her license. She faintly said no. So, he asks for her current address, and she whispered it to him. He had to ask her to repeat it a few times. After getting the address, we walk back to our patrol car.
I immediately ask him if he noticed anything unusual. He stated that he thought that he might have smelled alcohol on her breath (FYI, ethyl alcohol has no smell, but alcoholic beverages do). I told him that he was correct, there was a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from the vehicle. Since the driver was the only one in the vehicle, the odor was most likely coming from her. She was whispering in an effort to not project the smell. I called a fellow officer that is on the DWI task force, and he came to our location. He asked why we stopped her and why we thought she was intoxicated. For training purposes, I had Tray answer his questions. After receiving the answers, the task force officer asked me if she was polluted. I answered "definitely".
The task force officer gets her out of the Lexus. She is chewing gum now in an effort to hide the smell. She is wearing a spaghetti strap ankle length green dress and 4 inch heels. She has had some "work" done as well. The officer has her step in front of his patrol car, which puts her right in front of the camera that he uses to record the field sobriety tests. He performs HGN, which stands for horizontal gaze nystagmus. Nystagmus is the involuntary jerking or bouncing of the eyeball due to due a disturbance in the inner ear. The consumption of alcohol hinders the brains ability to correctly control the eye muscles resulting in the horizontal jerking of the eyeball. The more alcohol consumed, the more pronounced the jerking of the eyeball. She had 6 clues HGN, which means she is over the legal limit.
So, the task force officer asks her to perform the other tests which require a little movement. She protests that she can not do the tests in heels, so she is told that she can take them off. To do so, she decides that she has to bunch up her ankle length green dress. At this point the dress comes up to her knees. She gets the heels off, but does not put the dress down. The next test involves raising one foot 6 inches off of the ground for 30 seconds. The task force officer demonstrates. She decides that the dress is hindering her and bunches it up further. Now, the dress is holding at mid thigh. After doing that test, the task force officer demonstrates the walk and turn test, 9 steps, turn, 9 steps. Apparently, she thought that the dress was still limiting her, so she pulled it up some more. She is still on camera. The front of her dress is now being held just below her waist. She is showing off the goodies, commando style. I am not sure if she thought that would get her out of the arrest, but she tried her best. She was taken to Central intox for processing. She blew a .17, over twice the legal limit.
It was a great training call. The probationary got to see first hand, just how far some will go in an effort to get out a ticket or arrest. Here is a quick iPhone picture that I took for illustration purposes, since this is a story that some would not believe.
No comments:
Post a Comment