Driving

Brickbat: You Blew It

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A male motorist blows into a Breathalyzer while sitting in the front seat of his car. | Andrey Popov | Dreamstime.com
(Andrey Popov | Dreamstime.com)

Officials in Fowlerville, Michigan, have agreed to pay $320,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by Ryohei Akima, who was wrongly charged with driving under the influence after a rookie officer misread a breathalyzer test. Akima blew a 0.02, below the blood alcohol content for a drunk driving charge. But officer Caitlyn Peca read that as 0.22—nearly three times the limit. Peca told a colleague over the radio, "I have no idea what I'm doing." The charges were dropped when a blood test showed Akima was under the limit.

Charles Oliver is a contributing editor at Reason.