Former Ohio resident charged with DUI despite documents showing blood alcohol content of 0.000

[The Straight Story]

SURPRISE, AZ - Jessie Thornton sleeps during the day and runs errands and works out during the night.

"My wife, she's an ER nurse and works three 12-hour shifts, so I adjusted my schedule to be like her schedule," said Thornton.

The 64-year-old retired firefighter moved to a retirement community in Surprise, Arizona from Ohio.

Jessie says his late hours have put him in the police spotlight.

"I've been stopped 10 times in Surprise and given four tickets, it's amazing," said Thornton.

...

"He (the officer) walked up and he said 'I can tell you're driving DUI by looking in your eyes,'" said Thornton.

The 64-year-old says his eyes could have been red because he had just left LA Fitness where he was in the pool swimming.

"I take my glasses off and he says, 'You've got bloodshot eyes.' I said, 'I've been swimming at LA Fitness,' and he says, 'I think you're DUI,'" said Thornton. "He (the officer) goes, 'Well we're going to do a sobriety test.' I said, 'OK, but I got bad knees and a bad hip with surgery in two days.'"

...

The Surprise resident is right. The police documents show the drug recognition officer wrote, "I conducted an evaluation of Jessie, in my opinion Jessie was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol."

According the documents from the Surprise Police Department, the blood analysis showed no drugs were detected in Thornton's blood.

Jessie's car had been impounded and the MVD notified of the DUI charge.

"I then get this message that my license is being suspended and I have to take some sort of drinking class or something," said Thornton.

http://www.newsnet5.com/dpp/shared/Former-Ohio-resident-charged-with-DUI-despite-documents-showing-blood-alcohol-level-of-0000

[MotherPetrie]

1. Blatant police harassment

I figured the guy had to be African-American. Yup.

[uppityperson]

2. DWB not DUI

[ChoppinBroccoli]

3. This Article Is An Example Of 2 Things Everyone Should Know

1. Every test used to determine whether a driver is operating a motor vehicle while under the influence is DEEPLY flawed. Breathalyzers are wildly inaccurate, and field sobriety tests are even worse. Most people I know, myself included, couldn't pass the standard field sobriety tests even if they were dead-solid sober.

2. You can be charged with DUI even if you're under the legal limit. There are two sections of the DUI law, and every driver charged is charged under BOTH sections. The first section is the "per se" section, which says that you can't operate a motor vehicle with a Blood Alcohol Content above a certain percentage. The second section is the "impaired" section, which says that even if your Blood Alcohol Content is NOT over the legal limit, you're still guilty if you're "too impaired to drive." It's a catchall provision for the rare times that the breathalyzer machine malfunctions and says that your BAC is under the limit.