Underage College Student Arrested for Drunk Driving

From the report of Officer Greg Nelson, lightly edited:

On Saturday, February 6, 2021, at approximately 3:32 a.m., I responded to to back up Sergeant Holt on a traffic stop.

I approached the driver side of the black Mercedes and made contact with a white female driver [who will be referred to as the Driver going forward]. The Driver was the only individual in the vehicle. I identified myself to the Driver. As I was speaking to her, there was a strong odor of alcoholic impurities emitting from the vehicle. I asked the Driver where she was coming from, and she advised that she was coming from downtown. I asked her how much she had to drink and she advised she had one vodka and cranberry.

While speaking to the Driver, I observed that she had a yellow band on her right wrist, which is typically used at a drinking establishment to identify someone over the age of 21. The Driver was 19. Due to my observations, I informed the Driver that I wanted to ensure she was safe to drive, and asker her whether she was willing to participate in field sobriety exercises. She agreed.

While outside the vehicle, I could smell an overwhelming odor of alcoholic impurities emanating from the Driver’s breath and person. I also noticed that her eyes were bloodshot and glassy.

Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus

I instructed the Driver how she was to stand. Using the red light as a stimulus, I instructed the Driver to follow the stimulus with her eyes and her eyes only and not to move her head. The Driver advised she understood.

I checked her eyes for equal and normal pupil size; they were. She did not display resting nystagmus, and her eyes displayed equal tracking. While checking for lack of smooth pursuit, the Driver had to be reminded to follow the stimulus with her eyes only. There was a lack of smooth pursuit in both eyes as well as nystagmus at maximum deviation and prior to 45 degrees, however there was no vertical nystagmus. While checking, the Driver had to be reminded to follow the stimulus with her eyes only. During the exercise, the Driver displayed a sway from left to right and front to back.

Walk and Turn

For the walk and tum exercise, I had the Driver stand at the end of a white parking line. I asked the Driver if the surface appeared to be level to her, if it was free of debris, if the line was straight. the Driver answered yes to the questions. I instructed the Driver of the position she was to get into and maintain while I read and demonstrated the exercise. While instructing the Driver, she had to be reminded to stay in the correct position.

While completing the exercise, the Driver did not count her steps out loud. She missed heel-to-toe on steps one, two and three on the way down, and took ten steps, missing steps one, two, three, five, six, seven, eight and nine on the way back, when she also took eleven steps.

One leg stand

Prior to beginning, I instructed the Driver how to stand while I read the instructions and demonstrated the exercise. She had to be told multiple times to stay in the correct position, and started the exercise before I told her to begin. After instruction, I asked the Driver if she understood the instructions, she said that she did. Throughout the exercise, the Driver displayed orbital sway to the left and right, front and back. She put her foot down at 24 seconds.

Based on her driving pattern, personal contact and performance of the exercises, I determined that the Driver’s normal faculties were impaired. She was arrested for driving under the influence.

The Driver was then secured in my vehicle and transported to the Orange County DUI Center. I requested for the Driver to submit to a breath test, and she agreed. On the first breath test, at approximately 5:01 a.m., the Driver blew a .094%. On the second breath test, at approximately 5:04 a.m., she blew a 0.095%.

The Driver was issued a citation for running a red light and a DUI Citation. She was later approved for and successfully completed DUI pretrial diversion.

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