New York Woman Evades DWI With Auto-Brewery Syndrome; How The Body Turns Everything Into Alcohol
If you blow a 0.33 percent on a Breathalyzer test after driving, chances are you're going to jail. Just last year a woman was pulled over by the Hamburg Town Police and did just that — but instead of serving time, her case was dismissed by a town judge. The reason being her elevated alcohol content (BAC) wasn't because she'd had too much alcohol, but because she suffers from a rare intestinal disorder called "Auto-Brewery Syndrome," according to Buffalo News.
The woman, a resident of Hamburg, N.Y., apparently has the ability to turn regular food and beverages into alcohol. The case is the first of its kind in Western New York, if not the entire state, and the Erie County District Attorney's office has said it will appeal the judge's ruling and try to have the charges against the driver reinstated. Defense attorney Joseph J. Marusak said, essentially, the 35-year-old' digestive system has so much yeast that it functions like a "brewery." He added that it was one of the most bizarre cases he's ever been involved with in over 30 years as a lawyer.
"She can register a blood alcohol content that would have you or I falling down drunk, but she can function," Marusak explained to Buffalo News.
The woman did admit to having three alcoholic beverages earlier that night, but not enough to produce the incredibly high BAC reading; 0.33 is more than four times the legal limit in the state of New York. Despite the two dismissed charges of driving while intoxicated (DWI) and aggravated DWI, Hamburg Police Chief Gregory G. Wickett said he is sure his officers were correct in charging the woman with DWI.
"She was highly intoxicated, as shown by the Breathalyzer," he said. "Our officers did the right thing in getting her off the road. Whether she has a medical issue that causes it is not for me to decide."
The officer who pulled the woman over reported that her Toyota Corolla was "weaving all over" the road and that she had trouble with some of the sobriety tests, like standing on one foot and talking. The woman insisted she had only consumed a few alcohol beverages between noon and 5:45 p.m. that day, so Marusak began his own investigation. The woman went to see specialists, and on May 3, medical professionals conducted some tests, observing the woman over a 12-hour period when she was not drinking and measuring her BAC by Breathalyzer.
"Her blood alcohol level was repeatedly measured at very high levels — .279, then .379 and then .40 — extremely high levels," Marusak said. "We then took blood samples and refrigerated them, and took them to the Erie County Medical Center to be examined. Again, those levels came out extremely high."
He said that regardless of the outcome of the case, he does not expect local defense attorneys to start using the syndrome as a defense against DWI charges. Proving a client suffers from the rare syndrome is expensive and difficult, Marusak said.
"This case is a novelty," said Michael Taheri, one of the region's busiest DWI attorneys. "I do not foresee a stampede of people claiming that they have this illness."