Local attorney questions accuracy of breathalyzer test

A local attorney uncovered a paper trail of ongoing problems with a Breathalyzer machine used by El Paso police at Central Regional Command.

“How many people have blown on this machine that have been convicted of a crime since they installed it in 2016?” attorney Justin Underwood asked.

Underwood filed an open records request to review maintenance reports on the Intoxilizer 9000, the machine used by the El Paso Police Department to check blood alcohol levels for suspected drunken drivers.

There are hundreds of pages of documentation for the analytical instrument with serial number 90-001791, which is located at El Paso Central.

According to documentation, the instrument was installed March 22.

On May 15, the machine had “”potential connectivity issues,” but reports stated it was in proper working condition. Within the same month, the machine needed to be “calibrated,” with no explanation as to why. However, the reports stated it was still in “proper working condition.”

“You can see the smaller problems are starting to compound themselves,” Underwood said. “All the while, people are still blowing on this machine.”

On Sept. 27 the instrument was “rebooted.” Underwood said the wording on the description report changed that day. “The report states ‘the instrument appears to be in working condition,'” Underwood said, “it changed from ‘proper working condition to appears to be working in proper condition.'”

Oct. 9, 12 days after the reboot, the instrument was removed from service for “erratic operational messages,” according to the report.

Ten days later, it was sent to the Department of Public Safety lab for assessment and repair.

“They send it back saying it it is in working condition certified from DPS,” Underwood said.

The police department received the machine on Nov. 21 but the machine failed the operational systems check.

“Now, you have to question if the tests are scientifically reliable coming from a machine that has repeatedly screwed up,” Underwood said.

Maintenance checked the machine a week after the failure and reports state it would be sent back to DPS for repair.

“The real problem with this is the hundreds and hundreds of people who blew on this machine since March of last year,” Underwood said. “In my opinion all of these cases are now suspect.”

Underwood said he has filed an open records request for all the machines in El Paso County, which he estimates to be around 10-12.

ABC-7 reached out to the district attorney’s office for comment and received the following statement from District Attorney Jaime Esparza:

“We have full confidence in the Breathalyzer results and will continue to use the Breathalyzer to determine a driver’s level of intoxication.The results of the Breathalyzer is not the only evidence of a person’s intoxication. We consider the traffic violation, the appearance of the driver, the driver’s behavior at the point of arrest and their performance of the field sobriety tests.”