Over the legal limit

Friday, January 27, 2006
McCook Police Officer David Ortiz administers the test to check for nsytagmus (jerky eye movement) to Bob Samuelson. The test will help officers identify a subject's ability to focus during a standard field sobriety test.

By GLORIA MASONER

Special Promotions

Director

The statistics are staggering.

Over the last 10 years, 250,000 people have died in alcohol related accidents. Five hundred people are killed each week. Seventy one are killed each day .

One American life is lost every 20 minutes in alcohol related auto crashes.

Because of those statistics, the National Highway Traffic Safety Commission has developed a standardized field sobriety test to be followed by law enforcement officers nationwide.

The McCook Police Department played host this week to a training class instructing law enforcement officers on the standard technique for field sobriety testing.

As part of that training, six volunteers were asked to participate in the training class.

The Gazette's Gloria Masoner was one of those volunteers, along with Steve Renner, Thom Schneider, Bob Samuelson, Shaun Hesnault and Ken Keslin.

The volunteers were asked to drink their favorite alcoholic beverage until they reached an inebriated level. Three volunteers each participated on Wednesday on Thursday.

This isn't the first time I've covered a special training class sponsored by the McCook Police department. It's not even the first time I've participated in one of the activities. I've been allowed to use a laser gun in a computer generated standoff with a madman and I've laid on the ground looking down the barrel of a sniper's rifle during a simulated hostage situation, so when McCook Police Chief Ike Brown asked if I'd like to participate in an alcohol sobriety test, I figured "I might as well give it a try."

A McCook officer picked me up at noon on Wednesday. The only thing I knew for sure about what was expected of me was that I had to drink alcohol.

I was the first of the three volunteers to arrive at the McCook Police Department, shortly after, Steve and Thom arrived. Once we had filled in the paperwork, we got down to the business at hand ...

Trainers from the Nebraska State Patrol and the Nebraska Law Enforcement Training Center conducted the seminar Those trainers were Trooper Jeremiah Johnson of McCook, Trooper Becky Harris of Holdrege and Nebraska Law Enforcement Training Center Instructor David Anderson.

Trooper Johnson has been with the Nebraska State Patrol for four years. Trooper Harris, has been with the state patrol for six and a half years. Both have been trainers for the last three years. Anderson has been training with the Nebraska Law Enforcement Training Center for nearly 20 years.

During this training session, their mission was to teach officers the National Transportation Safety Council's standard field sobriety tests.

"This test has been tried and tested," said Nebraska State Trooper Jeremiah Johnson. "It will make field sobriety testing standard across the state regardless of which agency is involved in an arrest for driving under the influence.

Law enforcement officers spent Tuesday, their first day in class learning about detection and deterrence of a person suspected of driving under the influence. The course begins by teaching the students from the moment they suspect they may have a person driving under the influence.

... At 12:15 p.m. Trooper Harris began serving us our alcoholic beverages. I chose my usual, vodka and seven, Thom and Steve went with beer. It really wasn't much different than sitting in the bar with your friends. If you ignored the fact that we were sitting in the Sergeant's office of the McCook Police Department, with a trooper from the Nebraska State Patrol acting as your bartender.

For two hours the four of us played pitch and listened to a classic rock station on the television.

Trooper Harris told us their goal was to get us as close to a .16 blood alcohol level as possible -- twice the legal limit.

I asked her to test me after the three drinks I normally limit myself to. I tested at about .078. I was already beginning to show signs of impairment.

According to Anderson, once an officer suspects alcohol impairment, and a subject is detained, there are three standard tests performed to determine the level of inebriation. The first involves the suspects ability to focus on an object. Officers use the tip of a pen, asking the subject to follow the pen with their eyes. Officers use a series of movements, from side-to-side, and up and down, looking for jerky eye movement and ability to focus.

The second test is the "walk and turn." This test is used to determine the subject's ability to follow instructions, and determine balance and coordination.

The third test, also a divided attention test, is the one leg stand.

The final part of the test is the breathalyzer -- a small device that detects the amount of alcohol in the body.

While the state of Nebraska has a legal blood alcohol level of .08, if a subject fails the standard field sobriety test, and tests below the .08 level on his or her blood alcohol level, the subject can still be arrested and prosecuted.

By 2:15 p.m. I had consumed eight vodka sevens. I usually limit myself to three. My blood alcohol level had reached a level of .138 -- .058 over the legal limit.

At 2:30 we began the field sobriety testing. Each volunteer was tested by three groups of officers.

The eye tests came first. The instructions were clear -- "follow the tip of the pen with only your eyes, do not move your head."

Focusing on the pen was difficult, to say the least. I could feel my eyes jerking around, looking past the pen, looking at the officers eyes, unable to keep my attention solely on the tip of that pen. And I couldn't keep my head still. Anderson finally told me told cup my head in the palm of my hands.

The next test was the "walk and spin" test.

The officer gave me very specific instructions -- place your left foot on the tape, place your right foot directly in front of your left foot, keep your hands at your side, place heel to toe taking nine steps, placing heel to toe as you walk, and counting each step out loud, keep your head down and look at your feet, do not move until I tell you to.

Then he demonstrated and I began my second field test.

I failed miserably. I swung my arms from my side to keep my balance. I had to take larger steps than I was supposed to. I stepped off the line several times.

The third and final test was just as difficult. I was instructed to stand on one foot with the other stretched out in front of me, at least six inches off the ground, toes pointed down. I was to keep my eyes on my feet. All the while counting ... one, one thousand, two, one thousand, three, one thousand ... I made it to 12.

By the third round of tests my blood alcohol level was down to .098. Still well above the legal blood alcohol level. I did a little better on the final test, however, would have still been arrested had I been driving.

I was escorted home by one of McCook's police officers.

The training course includes the field sobriety testing, note taking, report writing, and increases students' ability to describe their observations.

"Standardizing these tests makes it easier for the courts and the district attorneys to prosecute these cases," Trooper Johnson said. These are validated tests that have been have been proven in the court system time after time.

Participants in the training class came from the McCook Police Department, the Red Willow County Sheriff's office, the Chase County Sheriff's office.

Respond to this story

Posting a comment requires free registration: