Worried Man
New Member
Hello
My wife has just been arrested for suspected drink driving. She is currently under doctors treatment for depression & anxiety and today whilst feeling anxious decided to go out and buy a bottle of wine with the hope it would make her sleep. She got home and drank the whole bottle of wine within 5 minutes and then went to bed. About 25 minutes later the police knocked on the door (the shop had called the police as they suspected that she had been drinking - some of her medication could give this impression). She had not consumed any alcohol in the previous 36 hours (which I can testify,as we did not have any in the house and she had not left the house), but she had also not eaten anything within the last 18 hours. She explained to the police that she had not opened the bottle until she got home and even showed them the bottle in the bedroom, where she had drunk it. They then asked her to wait 20 minutes and breathalysed her. Unsurprisingly she tested positive and was arrested and taken to the police station, for another test. They acknowledged her explanation that she had drunk it upon return and explained that 'a countback' would be performed to confirm if she had been over the limit at the time of driving and she would be given the opportunity for a blood test.
At the police station, she failed a second breath test - 79 mg per 100 ml of breath (double the drink drive limit). She was then advised by the police that a blood test was not necessary and to await the result of the countback analysis (which they assured her was very accurate).
She has no previous convictions and a clean driving licence. The police also made a note of what prescription drugs she had taken in the previous 24 hours and the fact she had not eaten anything.
My questions are:
1. What should we do next?
2. Is the countback test an accurate method of calculating of whether a person was fit to drive at the time (given that she had drunk a full bottle of wine on an empty stomach 45 minutes previously)?
3. Should she have been given the opportunity for a blood test?
My wife has just been arrested for suspected drink driving. She is currently under doctors treatment for depression & anxiety and today whilst feeling anxious decided to go out and buy a bottle of wine with the hope it would make her sleep. She got home and drank the whole bottle of wine within 5 minutes and then went to bed. About 25 minutes later the police knocked on the door (the shop had called the police as they suspected that she had been drinking - some of her medication could give this impression). She had not consumed any alcohol in the previous 36 hours (which I can testify,as we did not have any in the house and she had not left the house), but she had also not eaten anything within the last 18 hours. She explained to the police that she had not opened the bottle until she got home and even showed them the bottle in the bedroom, where she had drunk it. They then asked her to wait 20 minutes and breathalysed her. Unsurprisingly she tested positive and was arrested and taken to the police station, for another test. They acknowledged her explanation that she had drunk it upon return and explained that 'a countback' would be performed to confirm if she had been over the limit at the time of driving and she would be given the opportunity for a blood test.
At the police station, she failed a second breath test - 79 mg per 100 ml of breath (double the drink drive limit). She was then advised by the police that a blood test was not necessary and to await the result of the countback analysis (which they assured her was very accurate).
She has no previous convictions and a clean driving licence. The police also made a note of what prescription drugs she had taken in the previous 24 hours and the fact she had not eaten anything.
My questions are:
1. What should we do next?
2. Is the countback test an accurate method of calculating of whether a person was fit to drive at the time (given that she had drunk a full bottle of wine on an empty stomach 45 minutes previously)?
3. Should she have been given the opportunity for a blood test?
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