A Statesboro college student wrecked his car on the way home from a friend’s house. Because it was late at night, officers suspected DUI. After administering field sobriety tests in a poor fashion (in which the client performed well), the officer administered a portable breath test, which allegedly indicated that the young man was a 0.14 BAC. For reference, the legal limit is 0.08 BAC. However, after obtaining video in the case, Mr. Cabe quickly realized that officer completely misread the breathalyzer, and it actually indicated the young man was only a 0.04 (i.e., below the legal limit). What is worse, the officer realized his mistake after arresting the young man, but prior to taking him to jail.
Faced with their error, the officer attempted to justify the mistake to other officers by stating on camera that “the breathalyzer must just be off.” Additionally, this drastic mistake was conveniently left out of the officer’s report, which only hurt his credibility even more. Thank goodness for video footage.
Mr. Cabe pointed these errors out to the prosecutor, who thankfully acknowledged the errors, and dismissed the DUI.