The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1954-06-25

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At the station, you tell the desk
sergeant that you only had two
or three drinks with Joe Doakes
on your way home from work,
and you don't know how on earth
you overlooked that stop sign.
The sergeant will then give you
your choice: Since you have ad-
mitted taking some drinks, you
may take the Drunkometer test.
If the test shows less alcohol in
your blood stream than the amount
required for being booked as
drunk, then you will be cited only
for failing to obey the traffic sign
and perhaps for reckless driving,
but the serious charge of driving
while under the influence" will
not be placed against you.
OF course, If you have had more
to drink than you admit, you may
be in that belligerent stage in
which many persons insist on be-
ing given the test.
Test Proves u
In that case, the test will prob
ably show that you are carrying
enough alcohol in your blood to
be booked as drunk, and then
you will answer in court for your
fooliShness. In cases of this kind,
the results of the test are pre-
scented in court and they weigh
heavily against offenders.
If, on the other hand, you de-
cline to take the test, then the
police officer may charge you
according to your offense and you
will answer in court the charges
he has brought, but without facing
the indisputable evidence of the
chemical analysis.
Those examples are based on
the assumption that you are a
person in good health who has had
couple or three drinks OF liquor.
II You Are Sick
Suppose, though, you are not in
good health. You may be a VIC
tim of a disease which can pro-
duce the symptoms of drunkenness,
to all outward signs. In that case,
the administration of the Drunko-
meter test may be a life-saver
for you. In fact, patrolman Fred
erick A. Case, KWPD Drunko-
meter expert, has this to say on
the subject:
''The Drunkometer test has saw
ed many lives. There are about 65
pathological diseases that have
the symptoms of drunkenness as
far as visual appearance goes"
Formerly, if the police found a
man unconscious with the smell
of liquor about him, the natural
assumption was that the man was
passed-out drunk, and he was
likely to be tossed in a cell to
sleep it off. In a recent case of
this kind in a town on the Florida
east coast, man died in the cell
without medical attention, because
he was suffering from a disease,
not from drunkenness.
Test Saves Them
Patrolman Jeff Brodhead says
that since the introduction of the
Drunkometer test here, he has on
several occasions sent people to
the hospital rather than to a Jail
cell, when the test showed that
being drunk was not their trouble.
Patrolman Case and 1t. Joe
(Buster) Cerezo, in explaining the
test, pointed out that only quail
fled people can give it legally. Six
weeks of instruction must be taken
before a diploma showing compe-
tence in administering the test
can be earned.
Local police officers who are
qualified to give the test are Case,
Brodhead, Cerezo, Lieutenants
Gene Hernandez and Jimmy"
James, and patrolman Armando
Perez.
The Harger Drunkometer is the
most popular of three types of
tests available to determine
drunkenness. It is accepted by
the Florida Police Academy and IS
approved by the State Board of
Education.
Simple 10 Give
The mechanics of giving the
test are relatively simple, al
though practice and training are
required to make a true reading
of the results.
The test subject is given a bal
loon to blow up. The inflated
balloon is then attached to a tube
which leads, to a test tube contain.
ing a mixture of 10 CO.'S of sulph-
uric acid and one &C of potassium
permanganate. The air from the
balloon is forced gently into THE
test tube, and if there is 1.69 per
cent of alcohol in the breath,
J the solution turns a pinkish shade.
If the pink hue appears, the