Lawyer: Alcohol Testing Device Is Racist
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Daniel Tepfer, Connecticut Post, November 19, 2008
A lawyer representing a man arrested in Fairfield for drunken driving claims the state’s breathalyzers discriminate against African-Americans.
“They are KKK in a box,” said lawyer James O. Ruane of Shelton. “We really have some racist machines here.”
Ruane represents Tyrone Brown, 40, of Burritt Avenue, Norwalk, who was arrested April 9 by the State Police on Interstate 95 in Fairfield and charged with drunken driving. A breath analysis administered at State Police Troop G in Bridgeport found Brown had a blood-alcohol content of 0.188. The legal limit is 0.180.
In a motion filed Tuesday in Superior Court, Ruane asked a judge to suppress his client’s breathalyzer test results, contending the device used by the State Police and most other local police departments, the Intoxilyzer 5000, discriminates against African-Americans. Brown is an African-American.
{snip}
Ruane claims the lung capacity of the African-American man is 3 percent smaller than the Caucasian man and, therefore, black men test results vary from the sobriety standard set by the device.
He said that Dr. Michael Hlastala, a lung physiologist at the University of Washington, examined research of other lung physiologists and, based on his studies, has determined the Intoxilyzer 5000 does not effectively test the blood-alcohol content of African-American men.
{snip}
(Posted on November 19, 2008)
Comments
So, a black lawyer wants the law to see racial differences? And he calls the brethalyzer a “K” device? The “K,” an organization that seemed to believe in racial differences.
I say he should pursue that, and lobby every level and member of the American judiciary to make decisions based on racial differences. He doesn’t know what kind of fire he is playing with.
BTW, I can’t believe that there is any state with a 0.18 legal limit. The Feds have prodded states to adopt a 0.08.
Posted by Question Diversity at 6:21 PM on November 19
Well, that must mean that a metal detector is gun control in a wand.
Posted by at 6:37 PM on November 19
“The legal limit is .180”. Either the guy that wrote this article is a little tipsy or they have some very liberial drinking laws. I think most states have a .08 limit.
Posted by Daniel at 6:55 PM on November 19
Well, of course! An inanimate machine cannot be expected to understand that “race” is just a social construct…
Posted by Paul at 6:56 PM on November 19
How about this for a solution make the legal limit for EVERYONE in society 0.180 and for people with any African DNA 0.190.
There that’s fair, too easy what’s next.
More proof that blacks do not want equality. I appreciate this is an ‘angle’ that a defense lawyer is exploring, but it sets a dangerous precedent. That we do actually have genetic differences, hold on that may work in our favour.
Posted by Gen X in Oz (Here for moral support) at 6:56 PM on November 19
Black men have big feet, too, and unintentionally put more pressure on accellerator pedal, thus causing the vehicle to travel at a higher rate of speed. The speed limits should be raised to accommodate our oft-misunderstood bruthas.
Posted by at 7:27 PM on November 19
“Ruane claims the lung capacity of the African-American man is 3 percent smaller than the Caucasian man and, therefore, black men test results vary from the sobriety standard set by the device.”
Interesting how these same “reduced lung capacity” blacks seem to have no breathing problems while on a basketball court or in running from the police. Do they instantly develop chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at the mere sight of a breathalyzer?
Posted by at 7:29 PM on November 19
“Ruane claims the lung capacity of the African-American man is 3 percent smaller than the Caucasian man and, therefore, black men test results vary from the sobriety standard set by the device.”
What a silly excuse. Smaller people who weigh less get drunk on less than large people. As such, a small person might get a DWI on an amount that a larger person wouldn’t. It doesn’t matter. If Blacks did have less lung compacity, it doesn’t matter. If your blood alchol level is above a certain percent, than you’re DWI. Really, will Blacks ever quit making excuses and playing the race card.
Posted by at 7:34 PM on November 19
Wait a minute! Blacks and whites couldn’t possibly have different lung capacities because every ethnic group is 100% identical.
After all, the liberal elite say that race is a social construct and they’re never wrong.
Posted by Madison Grant at 9:38 PM on November 19
“Tyrone Brown” and one order of magnitude above?
Not even H.L. Mencken could have written a satire like that.
Posted by nokangaroos at 10:15 PM on November 19
Is there no dodge a defense attorney can’t come up with to try to save his client from American justice? Now breathalyzer machines are “racist.” And why? Because a black man’s lung capacity is allegedly 3 percent smaller than a White man’s?
Leaving aside the silly degree of generalization involved in this proposterous claim, what about the theory, much favored by racial leftists, that there is “no such thing as race”? Apparently there isn’t, until it’s advantageous to some black to claim there is. All depends on whose ox is being gored, doesn’t it?
Posted by Wayne Engle at 10:31 PM on November 19
The legal limit is 0.08, not o.180. The offender was way over the limit and any alcohol testing method would have discovered it. If the suspect is less than 0.01 over the limit, they will generally not be arrested (instead be ordered to get a ride home), making the legal limit effectively .09.
Posted by at 11:41 PM on November 19
As a lawyer who has handled many a DWI case, .08 or .10 is the legal limit, depending on the state. Most are now .08. A 106 pound woman who has had seven beers is going to blow far higher compared to a 200 pound male (black or white) who has consumed the same amount over the same period of time. The intoxilyzer 5000 in that sense, is sexist more than racist. A person that blows .18 has blood that is basically 36 proof. It has nothing to do with long capacity. We all basically metabolize alcohol at the same rate. The bigger you are, the more it will take to get you to .08 If he were to argue that black men contain less blood by volume than the average white guy, he may have made a point.
Posted by at 12:39 AM on November 20
“We really have some racist machines here.”
Now I’ve heard everything. Next I guess the weather is going to be racist. Or maybe the ocean? Racist machines? Please. These race hustlers are so used to squealing racism at the drop of a hat, I think they sometimes do it before they even think!
Posted by idareya at 1:33 AM on November 20
This must be an affirmative action journalist. The legal limit in CT is .08, just like (almost) everywhere else.
Posted by Earl K. at 2:53 AM on November 20
So according to black math .18 of a small volume is different in ratio to .18 of a greater volume? Perhaps the percentage of taxes taken from those blacks that work will have to be raised because of this ratio difference, ya think?
Posted by Skip at 3:39 AM on November 20
“Blacks and whites couldn’t possibly have different lung capacities because every [racial] group is 100% identical.”
Posted by Madison Grant
……………………………….
That’s right, and race doesn’t exist anyway. (As we all know.)
Furthermore, as someone said here recently, “they only have different paint jobs” but we’re all exactly the same inside.
Posted by ghw at 4:34 AM on November 20
This is so laughable. How can something be racist that treats all races the same, i.e. the Breathalyzer machine. The fact is he want the Breathalyzer to be racist to suit his needs. Fact: racism only exists when blacks want it too.
Its natural in life for different organism to be inferior or superior to others. Being self-aware and knowing that most of your race is useless compared to other races must be quite a tough proposition to deal with i guess.
Blacks have such a chip on the old shoulder government should give them grants to keep some salsa on hand at all times.
Posted by at 6:16 AM on November 20
“Ruane claims the lung capacity of the African-American man is 3 percent smaller than the Caucasian man and, therefore, black men test results vary from the sobriety standard set by the device.”
How is it that Blacks make such outstanding athletes?
Posted by Southern Hoosier at 6:36 AM on November 20
Simple solution. Change the law. Different limits for each race. Real low limit for Chinese. Average limit for Whites. Liberal limit for people of color.
After all, that would be no different from affirmative action, racial set-asides, race quotas and race-norming.
Posted by at 8:14 AM on November 20
This black attorney will need a black jury to sell his hilarious argument. That “black lung capacity” is less than whites is a study I’d sure like to see, but even if real, it makes no difference in regard to drinking and driving.
His client drank beyond the legal limit. Ask any convicted female drunk driver that’s 5 ft. tall and a hundred pounds.
Posted by Proactive at 11:04 AM on November 20
you know, as silly as this article sounds, it is just the ingredients for some new special rights for minorities law. This is the very reason, or I should say, one of many thousands of reasons, why this country is sliding quickly into 3rd world status. The new rage is to see race as a factor if and only if it benefits the minorities amongst us. Otherwise to do so is racist. Only whites can be racists. I am a firm believer that we are being set up to be destroyed from within. This was all started in 1964-65, and has intensified slowly, as to not alert us to jump from the ever-so-slowly increasing boil of the pot. I can’t help but wonder, once we have been destroyed, will the whites that aided our enemies be rewarded or persecuted? I like to think they will be persecuted. Who knows?
Posted by at 11:18 AM on November 20
I wonder what would happen if the prosecution in the case said, “Your honor, blacks can’t possibly have a different lung capacity than whites. After all, race is just a social construct. There ARE no differences between the races aside from skin color,” and then held up the recent news article run on Amren implying same to prove his point? No doubt he would be laughed out of court. That silly argument only “works” in the hands of leftists.
Posted by Tim in Indiana at 12:54 PM on November 20
He has a good point: we need separate alcohol intake analysis for whites and blacks, men and women, fatties and skinnies, etc. We already know we need separate procedures for medical care and drug dosages. We suspect we may need separate laws and customs.
Emphasize differences. Do so in a positive light. Direct your ire at pluralism/multiculturalism, not specific ethnic groups. In my experience, that convinces others — where other methods will fail.
Posted by Brett Stevens at 1:17 PM on November 20
“Ruane claims the lung capacity of the African-American man is 3 percent smaller than the Caucasian man and, therefore, black men test results vary from the sobriety standard set by the device.”
How about intellectual capacity?
Posted by CuriousStranger at 3:05 PM on November 20
Since a machine is by definition an unthinking inanimate object, I am unclear as to how one can be “racist”. Are they also “sexist” and “homophobic”? Perhaps we should ban any machine more complicated than a lever, wheel or inclined plane.
Posted by Michael C. Scott at 3:56 PM on November 20
“Ruane claims the lung capacity of the African-American man is 3 percent smaller than the Caucasian man and, therefore, black men test results vary from the sobriety standard set by the device.”
Isn’t this funny? Liberals always say ‘race is a social construct’ UNLESS showing racial differences disadvantages blacks, hispanics, and other non-whites. Must be nice to be a liberal!
Posted by at 9:04 PM on November 20
“…Ruane claims the lung capacity of the African-American man is 3 percent smaller than the Caucasian man and, therefore, black men test results vary from the sobriety standard set by the device…”
Therefore, the results of tests for blacks should be adjusted 3 per cent UPWARD. The ratio of alcohol to lung air is 3 per cent higher.
If a White man blows a given amount of air into the machine and produces a .08 reading, and a black man blows 3 per cent less air into the machine and produces a .08 reading, there is more alcohol in his breath than that of the White man.
Posted by Wild Eyed Charlie at 1:23 AM on November 21
Correct, Charlie. Something was bothering me about this article yesterday, something I couldn’t quite put my finger on.
A reading of .188 BA content on a breathylizer in this African’s case means his true BA content was .194, but even if his claims were mathematically sound, his true BA content would have been 0.182; still over twice the legal limit. Ruane not only shouldn’t have been driving; he shouldn’t have been out of the house on foot! Home taking a nice nap would have been the reasonable choice.
Another aspect of this case to keep in mind is that in most states, people who have been stopped and are suspected of intoxication are allowed one of four choices:
1. A roadside breathylizer test.
2. A breathylizer test at the nearest police station (the fixed equipment is allegedly more accurate than the portable equipment).
3. A blood-alcohol test at the nearest hospital. Not many people choose this, due to not wanting the extra wait, or squamishness about needles.
4. Refusal to take any sort of test at all, which immediately loses them their license.
Posted by Michael C. Scott at 12:27 PM on November 21
I don’t know if it’s true that black men have on average 3% less lung capacity than white men do (and if so, why do they make such good sprinters?) but I am certain that the variation in lung capacity among white men is far greater than 3%. This is irrelevant because the thresholds for drunkenness are set high enough that anyone who exceeds them is pretty damn certain to be sufficiently impaired that he shouldn’t be driving.
Posted by WR the elder at 4:48 PM on November 21
The legal limit is like .08 or less where I live. However, people actually pulled over and charged tend to be in the .2 - 3.5 range from what I’ve been told by police.
.18 would be an extremely high legal limit.
Lung size among blacks is probably not smaller, and even if they were it wouldn’t affect the results. They are completely misrepresenting how a breathalyzer works.
Posted by Kyle Rogers at 11:56 AM on November 28