Touch My Nose? Do I Even Have One of Those, Officer?

Early on Tuesday, the Rhode Island State Police arrested a man for driving while intoxicated and resisting arrest. This man set the Rhode Island record for the highest blood alcohol level ever recorded in a person who was not already dead.

Stanley Kobierowski as he is arraigned. (Image courtesy of: Andrew Dickerman of the Providence Journal)

Stanley Kobierowski, a 34-year-old from North Providence, Rhode Island, was arrested after he had crashed into a “message board” on Interstate 95 in Providence. I am assuming a message board is basically a billboard, but I could be wrong. Sometimes those New Englanders have odd names for things. Kobierowski had trouble getting out of the car when the police arrived. Then he decided to grab hold and refuse to leave the car. This prompted police to carry him off to their car.

The legal limit to blow into a breathalyzer in the state of Rhode Island is 0.08. To give you a little more insight into what I am about to list as his blood alcohol level I would like to share this info from the health department. A blood alcohol level of 0.30 is listed as “stupor”, 0.4 is classified as “comatose”, while 0.5 is considered fatal. Yes, there is a reason I am listing numbers up to 0.5! Mr. Kobierowski’s first test gave a reading of 0.489 percent. This obviously caused the officers to look at one another and say “Well, that can’t be right. Let’s try again.” (That quote was just made up by me; I am sure their reaction was a bit better than my words.) The second test gave a reading of 0.491.

State Police Major Steven O’Connell said, “The person is lucky they survived. There’s no doubt he would have gotten killed, or killed someone if he had continued on the route he was taking.”

Just the thought that someone would be stupid enough to go out and endanger so many people and themselves when they are THAT drunk stuns and amazes me. I know a couple of people who have been robbed of a loved one by a drunk driver, and also at least a couple that have been stupid enough to drink and drive. I think the police should have been able to deliver him to the health department right away and let them test their theory that 0.5 is fatal. After all, he was only 0.009 away from the mark. That couldn’t have been more than another six pack or so for this guy. Lock him in a study room with windows and let him drink up and see if 0.5 is the point where it became fatal for this idiot. I will be following this story to see what sort of penalty he gets on Friday at his hearing. Sadly, if it is his first offense, he will probably just get a slap on the wrist and wind up killing someone on his next binge.

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