A Perthshire, UK postman who crashed his car into a ditch and was subsequently charged with drunk driving, claims that his breathalyzer test came up with unfairly high readings because of his unique, pelican-like condition
45-year-old William Harvey told the Perth Sheriff Court that he has a “balloon-like sac” in his neck that held the relatively small amount of alcohol he had consumed that day. The sac, according to Harvey, is what caused him to register a blood alcohol level of more than three-times the legal limit.Harvey’s account of the day of the crash, is almost too perfect for words [img]http://www.mkb.cc/forum/smileys/chiny.gif" alt="" border="0" onload="NcodeImageResizer.createOn(this);" class="bbc_img" />
The postman was driving home from a visit with family, when he decided to stop by the river and drink some wine. He claims to have consumed half a bottle, while contemplating suicide, which caused him to have a panic attack. The panic attack in turn caused him to vomit up the contents of his stomach, including the wine, which were unfortunately then captured by the strange sac in the back of his throat. Harvey maintains that it was this proximity of the vomitus wine to his mouth, that ultimately lead to the incorrect breath test readings.
At some time during this gory picnic, Harvey saw the police cruiser pass by, which caused him to panic yet again. He then got into his car, drove off in the opposite direction, and promptly crashed into the ditch. Simple, straightforward, could’ve happened to anyone.
Strangely, the judge in Harvey’s case wasn’t buying the pelican man defense, and has sentenced the accused to 18 months of a suspended license, and a £600 fine.
http://www.thecourier.co.uk/output/2008/02/19/newsstory10955072t0.asp
