Flushed Away: Torrance DUI Attorney Matthew Ruff Overturns .15% BAC Suspension by Exposing Critical "Bathroom Break" Error
TORRANCE, CA — Prominent California DUI defense attorney Matthew Ruff has successfully secured a complete set-aside of a driving privilege suspension for a client, overcoming breathalyzer test results well above the legal limit. The decisive victory hinged on exposing a critical procedural failure by law enforcement regarding state-mandated Title 17 observation periods following a bathroom break.
The case involved a motorist who submitted to chemical breath tests yielding Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) results of 0.14% and 0.15%, significantly higher than the California legal limit of 0.08%. Despite these numbers, the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) Driver Safety Officer ruled that the administrative action against the respondent's driving privilege could not be upheld.
The defense successfully demonstrated that law enforcement failed to adhere strictly to Title 17 of the California Code of Regulations. Title 17 dictates that an officer must maintain continuous, uninterrupted observation of a subject for at least 15 minutes prior to a breath test to ensure the individual does not ingest anything, regurgitate, or burp—actions that can cause residual mouth alcohol to severely contaminate and artificially inflate breathalyzer readings.
According to the official DMV findings, the arresting officer admitted during testimony that he permitted the respondent to use the restroom to urinate immediately prior to the testing sequence. Because the restroom area was 15 feet away and the respondent’s back was turned toward the officer, the officer conceded he could not observe the respondent’s face, nor could he definitively determine if a burp, belch, or regurgitation had occurred. Furthermore, the officer admitted he only observed the client for two to three minutes after the bathroom break before initiating the breath test.
Fighting and winning cases by showing violation of the state mandated regulations is what Torrance DUI Attorney Matthew Ruff does to win cases and expose faulty procedures and police sloppiness.
