bkrafft wrote:
This is why you should belch as vociferously as you can just before you blow. A burp can bring fresh alcohol from your stomach up into your esophagus and mouth, throwing the reading off, so in theory they have to wait another 15 minutes (some states it's 30 minutes) before they can make you blow again.
Yes, that's exactly what you should do...
...if you want to get charged with Refusal to Submit to Testing. It isn't just the people who say "no" to a test request that get charged with refusal. It's also people who refuse by conduct, such as intentionally doing things that mess with the test. You'd be surprised how inclined judges are to interpret innocent behavior as mischief.
Another consideration is that if there's still alcohol in your stomach that means it hasn't fully made it's way into your bloodstream. Give it some more time and it likely will, leading to a higher reading. That 0.19 reading might be 0.18 in 15 minutes, but it might also be 0.20, which subjects you to a more serious charge.
Besides, a smart cop will let you belch away and run the test anyway. You'll bring a bunch of alcohol up from your stomach to your mouth, and your test will be twice what it otherwise would be. Then, when he gets to court, he won't have a specific recollection of any burp, but he'll be real sure that it would have been his ordinary practice to start the observation period over again if it did happen.
Then you are, to use the legal term, pretty much f***ed.
