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Preventing a DUI with a Portable Breathalyzer

Wyoming and South Dakota criminal defense attorney Christina Williams talks about how a portable breathalyzer could save you from getting a DUI or DWUI. Christina explains how the police use breathalyzers to help get more accurate results.

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Transcript

00:00:00:02 – 00:00:25:29
Speaker 1
Hey, everybody. This is Christina Williams with Just Criminal Law. It’s all we do. In our previous video, David and I talked about making sure you have a plan when you go out this holiday season with friends and family for those Christmas celebrations, or New Year’s celebrations. And we discussed the possibility of even purchasing a portable breath test. And so we thought we’d go over that with everybody today.

00:00:26:03 – 00:00:31:14
Speaker 1
We’ve we have three different options for you and. Hi, David. One.

00:00:31:14 – 00:00:32:13
Speaker 2
Hi there, Christina.

00:00:32:25 – 00:00:39:01
Speaker 1
Yeah, hi. One of the options you actually use on your keychain, right? You’ve used it in the past.

00:00:39:10 – 00:00:40:24
Speaker 2
Yes. Right there.

00:00:41:12 – 00:00:46:01
Speaker 1
And it is something that you just picked up on Amazon, correct?

00:00:46:15 – 00:01:11:14
Speaker 2
Yeah. So this is it’s the the brand name is Bactrack or Bactrack, which I think is a pretty big brand and very popular. It’s really small. So this was $70. But I think part of what you’re paying for is how convenient this is. It can just go in any pocket. It can sit, you know, best place to have it is in your car or on your keychain and it’s super easy to use.

00:01:11:14 – 00:01:19:27
Speaker 2
Push the button, wait a few minutes for it to warm up and then it says, Just blow and you blow into it for 5 seconds maybe. And then, you know.

00:01:20:19 – 00:01:54:16
Speaker 1
Yeah. And I, I picked up, I looked on Amazon and I picked up one as well. I didn’t know we were going to get the same brand. But this is the Bactrack or the Bactrack and it’s $129 on Amazon. It was above four and a half stars, you know, positive reviews. And so I ordered it and then I asked my investigator, Tony Seeman, who was in law enforcement for 23 years, okay, how do you use this thing?

00:01:54:16 – 00:02:18:27
Speaker 1
Because there are directions that come with it. And he he actually gave me a pointer that I’m going to share with everybody to make sure you’re getting a more accurate result. So they’re pretty easy to use. As you said, you just push the button. So I’m pushing the button here and it’s going to count down. It’s going to let me know when it’s ready to have a blow into it.

00:02:19:07 – 00:02:51:26
Speaker 1
I’m going to take a deep breath. I’m going to hold my breath for a few seconds, and then I’m going to blow until it tells me to stop. So now it’s done calibrating and it’s been start. So and then it wants to think about it for a little bit and it’ll give me a reading. I’m blowing zeros, which is not surprising since it’s only 2:00.

00:02:52:11 – 00:03:14:05
Speaker 1
Anyway, the the trick to getting a more accurate result in that it’s not included in the instructions is to hold your breath for a minute. And the purpose of that is to try to get that deeper lung alcohol. The the deeper the alcohol, the more accurate the blow test is going to be.

00:03:14:22 – 00:03:35:04
Speaker 2
Yeah, I’ve noticed that too, that on the first time you blow into it, it’s it’s going to probably have a higher that might be a higher number. What I usually do is blow into it one time. Look at the higher number which still is, you know, hopefully under the limit. But it might be you might say, okay, well, it’s close enough.

00:03:35:11 – 00:03:50:20
Speaker 2
Wait a second. Blow it again. You’re probably going to get a lower number. And then I usually do another one and maybe even a fourth one, because then you go, okay, let’s get sort of the average of all of these and have some idea of where you actually are because you never want to take any chances.

00:03:51:09 – 00:04:22:08
Speaker 1
Absolutely. And in my experience of seeing thousands of these given to clients over the course of my career, you’re never going to get the same reading twice. So that don’t be concerned. It’s not dysfunction, it’s not malfunctioning. It’s just not going to give you the same reading. And you’re absolutely right. Go with the higher reading. Yeah, don’t risk it and say, Oh, well, I got a reading that was, you know, just barely below because then you’re going to end up in trouble maybe.

00:04:22:27 – 00:04:48:04
Speaker 2
So you may end up, you know, stopped even though you’re under or maybe you thought you were under because you decided to drive when it said 0.079 and you went and you got stopped by the police. Now, their level of breathalyzer is going to be a whole different level. And you would say we have an access possibly to one of that really good kind.

00:04:48:14 – 00:05:21:18
Speaker 1
Yeah. So I’ll include a link to each one of these in the description. But the other one, and that’s actually what our local law enforcement use is called the alcohol sensor first breath alcohol tester. And it’s actually $570, but, you know, $570 to get one that’s even more accurate is definitely what I would advise, because that’s kind of I feel like, you know, you’re going to pay maybe a little bit more.

00:05:21:26 – 00:05:35:03
Speaker 1
But there’s that piece of mind knowing that it’s probably going to be a little bit more accurate. And so, that that particular model is what our law enforcement here use out in the field.

00:05:35:23 – 00:05:56:05
Speaker 2
Yeah, that’s it’s really good to know and you can’t really it can’t be overstated the peace of mind is worth everything so whether you’re spending like this $70 or the one that you had, which I think you said it was 130 or $500, I mean, it’s all so much less than being pulled over and fined and all of that.

00:05:56:05 – 00:06:08:20
Speaker 2
But in the event that that does happen to you, we’ve had a whole series of other videos about what to do at that point. The first thing they should do is not say anything, but then they should call you. And how would they do that?

00:06:08:28 – 00:06:21:01
Speaker 1
Sure David They can click the link in the description and call text or chat with a member of my team any time, day or night. We know you only get one shot at Justice, so make yours count.

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When you are facing criminal charges, timing is everything. The first step is to contact Just Criminal Law for your personalized case review and strategy session with our dedicated client care specialist. Call our office in Gillette, Wyoming, at (307) 686-6556.

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