Kentucky DUI Defense Lawyer

Pro Wrestler Kurt Angle Arrested at Home For DUI

Pro wrestler Kurt Angle was charged with driving under the influence and careless driving in Pittsburgh based on a witness’ statement. One witness claimed Angle almost hit a car with his white Cadillac Escalade.

Police went to Angle's home to investigate the reports of his erratic driving, and reported that Angle showed signs of intoxication.

Police said they smelled the odor of alcohol and gave Angle a field sobriety test which Angle reportedly failed.

A date for Angle's preliminary hearing has not been set.

Post by Lexington Kentucky Attorney Stephen J. Isaacs, Isaacs Law Office.

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Driving While Distracted

In browsing the web, I happened upon Steven Eversole’s observation of the ignorance, poor research and reporting skills of members of the media. It appears that the Huntsville Times (Alabama) ran an editorial, without citing a single statistic, claiming that those accused with DUI's are the most dangerous drivers in Alabama. According to Eversole, the Huntsville Alabama Times failed to mention recent statistics that clearly demonstrate "driving while distracted," i.e. eating, talking on the cell phone, etc., is as bad or worse, than driving under the influence of alcohol.

In 2006, a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration study found that almost 80 percent of car accidents resulted from some type of distraction.

Thank you, Steven Eversole, for pointing out this fact.

Post by Lexington Kentucky Attorney Stephen J. Isaacs, Isaacs Law Office.

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Diabetic Victims of DUI Arrests

As a Kentucky DUI attorney, I have observed diabetics arrested and victimized by the zealous efforts by poorly trained law enforcement officers seeking to obtain a DUI convictions. The truth is that some diabetic individuals arrested for DUI are innocent of the DUI charges and need medical attention.

For example, in one case reviewed for this article, the subject arrested by police for DUI suffered from diabetic symptoms, and the officer did nothing to help the detainee. In that case, the officer stated on the police report that the subject had the odor of alcohol, that they failed all of the standard field sobriety tests (SFSTs), and that the Portable Breath Test (PBT) device measured alcohol on the subjects breath. Yet the subject's blood test for alcohol registered ZERO. In that case the prosecutor refused to drop the charges, further victimizing the detainee.

In reality, this author has the opinion that many Kentucky police officers are not given enough training to determine if a person should be arrested for DUI or if they are in need of medical attention. I wrote about the problem of poor officer training in my post Standard Field Sobriety Tests Do Not Accurately Measure Driver Impairment.  In that post, I presented a research study on the inaccuracy of the Standard Field Sobriety Tests conducted in 1991 at Clemson University which showed that SFST's yield false results.  In that study, 21 sober individuals with a blood alcohol content of zero (0.00) were videotaped performing six common Standard Field Sobriety Tests. The videotapes were then shown to 14 officers who were asked to determine if each of the individuals had too much to drink and drive. The officers were not informed that the individuals on the videotapes were sober.  The officers found that 46 percent of the time the individuals were too intoxicated to drive.  Since this study did not occur in Kentucky, it therefore can be argued that this may not be limited to Kentucky police officers.

This author therefore recommends that Kentucky police officers who can be expected to arrest individuals for DUI be given additional training to aid in the detection of persons suffering from medical conditions, including diabetes.

Post by Lexington Kentucky Attorney Stephen J. Isaacs, Isaacs Law Office.

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