The woman was pulled over while driving her car. Police asked her to take a breathalyzer test, then arrested her for having a blood alcohol level of four times the legal limit. However, the woman was found to have a rare condition called « auto-brewery syndrome,” which makes her digestive system convert the food she eats into alcohol.
« She had no idea she had this condition. Never felt tipsy. Nothing,” AP reported her lawyer, Joseph Marusak, as saying.
« At first glance, it seems like a get-out-of-jail-free card, » said Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Washington University, AP reported. « But it’s not that easy. Courts tend to be skeptical of such claims. You have to be able to document the syndrome through recognized testing. »
Marusak got in touch with Dr. Anup Kanodia, who was able to eventually diagnose the woman with auto-brewery syndrome. While waiting to see her, the lawyer arranged for medics to monitor his client on days when she did not drink alcohol. They took several blood samples to monitor her blood alcohol levels.
The evidence was submitted by Marusak and the case against the woman was eventually dropped.
Although the lawyer declined to identify his client, the Buffalo News reported her as being a 35-year-old schoolteacher. The publication also quoted the arresting officer as saying that the woman had bloodshot eyes and slurred speech, and that she failed several sobriety tests.