DUI Suspect Drinks Correction Fluid
By: Gerri L. Elder
There is some debate about whether or not it was Wite-Out or Liquid Paper that Juan Briceno drank after being arrested for suspicion of Nebraska DUI. However, there is no question that this repeat DUI offender's arrest was very memorable and serves as a lesson of what not to do if you're ever arrested for DUI.
According to a report by the Omaha World-Herald, after Briceno was arrested in Omaha, Nebraska for suspicion of DUI, he sat in an office waiting for a breath test to determine his blood alcohol content.
When he spotted the bottle of correction fluid on the desk, he came up with the crazy idea that it might help him out of this tight spot, so he opened the bottle and took a swig, apparently thinking that it might help him pass the breath test.
It wasn't the first time Briceno had a lapse of good judgment that evening. Earlier police had been called when a mechanic heard an engine revving and a car peeling out of his parking lot. The mechanic gave a description of the car and driver matching Briceno and police caught up with him at a taco stand where he was enjoying a burrito.
Briceno was asked to complete several field sobriety tests, which he failed. He was then placed under arrest and taken to the police headquarters for a breath test.
While he was awaiting blood alcohol content testing, a video camera captured him picking up the bottle of correction fluid while the officer is dealing with paperwork. When the officer left the room, Briceno made his move.
The video shows him looking over his shoulder, then opening the bottle and taking a drink from it. He then wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and his t-shirt. When the officer returns, Briceno buried his mouth into his palm.
He might have gotten away with this correction fluid craziness too, if the breath test technician had not noticed that his lips were whited-out. Not that it would have helped him pass a breath test, but the test would have probably have gone forward if the whiteness of Briceno's lips, the back of his hand and the smear on his t-shirt had not been seen.
Since the bottle of correction fluid came with a warning that the liquid is flammable and harmful or fatal if inhaled, police simply took Briceno to the hospital where a blood draw determined his blood alcohol content to be .28 percent.
This was Briceno's fourth DUI arrest. He was not killed or injured by the correction fluid and was convicted of felony fourth-offense drunken driving and will now face up to 20 years in prison. He will be sentenced in October.
