Bainbridge blotter | ‘Dabbled’ in drugs

Selected reports from the Bainbridge Island Police Department blotter.

THURSDAY, APRIL 25

10:58 p.m. A 36-year-old Bainbridge Island man was arrested for being in physical control of a vehicle while intoxicated.

Police responded to the Bloedel Reserve to investigate a suspicious vehicle, a green Cadillac backed off the roadway, blocking the driveway. The car’s engine was still running and the driver was slumped over and did not move while the office stood at the window.

There was a half empty bottle of whiskey behind the driver’s seat, within arm’s reach, and a needle cap and cotton swabs on the passenger seat, indicating illegal drug use.

The front window was open, and when a second officer arrived on scene, the first responder finally knocked on the window and roused the driver. He was sweating heavily; his eyes were dilated. When asked where he thought he was, the man said a parking lot. When asked what parking lot, he said the Bainbridge Island Police Department parking lot.

The man consented to performing a field sobriety test, at which he did poorly.

He was arrested. Afterward, the man confessed he sometimes dabbled in methamphetamine use. He told police he’d been drinking the night before at the Clearwater Casino with a coworker, but had only had four beers. He said he was a lightweight and did not often drink, so those beers were still affecting him.

Asked if he’d had any cocaine in the last 24 hours, the man said, “No, but I would love some.”

A breath test revealed the man’s blood alcohol level to be 0.000, which was, police said, inconsistent with the level of intoxication they had witnessed during the field sobriety test.

A blood search warrant was granted, and a sample taken to test for alcohol and other drugs.