Quote:
Originally Posted by Angry
I agree completely but there is a counter argument there.
First, it depends on what he was drinking. There are some drinks that have very pungent smells and others that don't. Vodka is a good example. It's hard to detect odor comming from a person if they have been drinking it. Still I doubt that this guy was pounding Smirnof Ice in his squad car.
The eyes do not begin to get red until the body begins to get dehydrated. This usually occurs after a few hour of drinking once the liver has began to process the alcohol on a continual basis. If he had pounded whatever he was drinking very fast and then rushed off to the call then his eyes might not yet have been bloodshot. Given the fact that he was at .19 and was intoxicated enough to not see motorcycles stopped at a light leads me to believe that he had been drinking for a while though. So yes, his eyes should have been red.
One more thing if the cop was working the night shift it is possiple that his eyes are red already from doing shift work. Let me explain, when you work at night and have to sleep durring the day it can be very difficult to get any actual rest. The next night when you go to work you are actually more tired than the day before. Doing this for long periods of time just makes you tired all of the time.
Now I have done shift work and the effects of fatigue are similar to those of alcohol consumption. It is possible that they just thought he was tired. I can understand that but the fact remains that he slammed into 2 motorcycles. He should have been given a breathalyzer right there on the spot.
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I know you're just playing devil's advocate, but I would guess it is standard procedure to investigate drunk driving suspicions for all accidents. In other words, if police arrive to the scene of an accident and don't at least check for intoxication -- no matter what the surrounding circumstances are -- then they are simply not doing their job as first responders to a potential criminal scene. If this is not the law in Indiana, then it should be. Same goes for all states, IMO.
In any case, I'm willing to bet that the city and the cops and whoever else is at fault will get their asses handed to them in civil court.