Seahawk cornerback Jeremy Lane was arrested for DUI by a Washington State Patrol trooper on January 14, 2018, in King County, Washington. Lane said on Twitter that, “[a] fail DUI is 0.08 right? I blew 0.03 why was still arrest!!!! I’ll leave it at that.” I have obtained the police report, but due to the fact it contains Lane’s driver’s license and home address, I will not post it on the internet. But I can provide some details on the case:
Lane was stopped for speeding on Interstate-90 Eastbound near Mercer Island. He was issued a speeding ticket for traveling 20 mph over the 60 mph zone. The trooper indicated he observed burnt marijuana smell coming from the vehicle, which was occupied by Lane and other occupants. The trooper indicated Lane agreed to perform Standardized Field Sobriety Tests (SFSTs). Lane agreed. The trooper contends Lane performed poorly on these tests (Lane would probably object to this). Following the SFSTs, Lane was asked to provide a Preliminary Breath Test (aka, a PBT), which is the alcohol breath test that troopers ask people to submit on the side of the road (the one back at the police station is the breathalyzer, or BAC). Lane provide a sample of .039 on the PBT. So as he stated on Twitter, his blood alcohol reading was well below the per se BAC level of .08. But the trooper claims that Lane was arrested for the combined effects on alcohol and marijuana. Lane admitting to smoking marijuana three hours earlier. The trooper arrested Lane for DUI and obtained a search warrant to take a blood sample from Lane. The results of that sample are currently pending.
The results of the blood sample will be the key piece of evidence in the case. Lane hopes that the sample shows no active THC in his blood. THC metabolizes to carboxy-THC. If only carboxy-THC is present in Lane’s blood sample, that would confirm Lane had smoked marijuana. But carboxy-THC, alone, is not impairing. So it would be impossible to say when exactly Lane had smoked and when he was no longer under the influence of marijuana. It certainly doesn’t help that Lane exhibited the effects of having consumed alcohol. I expect the prosecutor to wait for the results of the blood test to make a charging decision, probably within the next thirty days. Stay tuned.