Marysville citizen’s academy gets tipsy

Participants learn what police look for when they suspect DUI

The Marysville Police Department’s citizen’s academy on Thursday started ... with a few glasses of booze.

Served, that is, only to four volunteers over the age of 21.

Then academy participants got a first-hand look at how officers conduct field sobriety tests and took a guess at the volunteers’ blood alcohol content, how many drinks they had and whether or not they would have taken them to jail.

Heather Hisserich was the “sly drunk,” and performed the field sobriety test fairly well. Her oneleg stand was stable, she took nine steps heel-to-toe before turning and she listened to Officer Ryan Souza’s orders.

In fact, three of the four citizen groups guessed she only had two drinks, and decided they wouldn’t have taken her to jail.

But Hisserich had six whiskey drinks and a blood alcohol content (BAC) of .084 – just over the legal limit. She said the tests weren’t too hard for her to perform.

“I’ve never had a field sobriety test before,” she said. “It brought a lot more awareness, and I got to see what the barometer is for drinking.”

Thirty-eight percent of all highway deaths are a result of alcohol-impaired drivers, Sgt. Adam Barber told the class. He spent the first hour of the class teaching participants the signs officers look for when determining if a driver has been drinking.

For one, they look for how someone is driving: swerving, driving without their headlights on, speeding or driving too slowly and turning with a wide radius.

Once a driver is pulled over with probable cause, an officer will conduct a scientifically-validated field sobriety test. First is the ubiquitous test in which officer holds up a finger and moves it across the driver’s line of vision. They’re looking for horizontal gaze nystagmus – when the eye jerks or bounces when looking from side to side. The more pronounced the bounce, typically the higher the BAC.

Next comes the walk and turn. Officers look for the driver’s balance, if they start too swoon, if they stop walking, if they walk off the line, if they walk the Heather Hisserich takes part in a field sobriety test during the Marysville Police Department’s citizen’s academy on Thursday.

wrong number of steps, if the steps aren’t heel-to-toe, if they turn improperly and if they use their arms for balance.

Another test that’s used is the one-leg stand. Officers look for balance, swaying, hopping and if the person uses their arms for balance.

Kelly Soulies’s drunkenness was most obvious, and each group decided they would have arrested her for driving under the influence.

While performing the field sobriety tests, she had to ask for the instructions multiple times, didn’t follow instructions, swayed and stepped off the line she was walking and her balance was off. She drank six vodka sodas and had a BAC of around .22.

“It was harder than I thought because I drank more than I anticipated,” Soulies laughed. “It was interesting and very telling.”

Barber said the class showed how difficult a decision it can be for officers to determine if an arrest is warranted, especially on the side of the road and relying just on the tests.

“To me, the reaction was kind of eye-opening to people,” Barber said. “People seemed to be pretty surprised by the tolerance levels of people.”

A certificate was awarded to the group that made the most accurate guesses of BAC, drinks and decisions to arrest. The night ended, of course, with an officer taking the drunk participants through an Inn-out drive-thru.

FELONY ARRESTS

Billy L. Haddix Jr., 40, of the 4400 block of Martel Drive, Marysville, was arrested by the Yuba County Sheriff’s Office at 6:50 p.m. Feb. 22 at his residence on suspicion of obstructing or resisting an executive officer. He was booked into Yuba County Jail.

Renetta D. Williams, 43, of Big Oak Valley, was arrested by the Sutter County Sheriff’s Office at 3:50 a.m. Feb. 22 in the 1600 block of Lincoln Road on suspicion of vehicle theft. She was booked into Sutter County Jail.

Michael J. Hughes, 27, of the 1300 block of Dustin Drive, Yuba City, was arrested by the Sutter County Sheriff’s Office at 2:56 a.m. Feb. 22 in the 9800 block of Broadway, Live Oak, on suspicion of burglary and vandalism. He was booked into Sutter County Jail.

Gursewak S. Natt, 32, of Sacramento; Kamalpreet Singh, 31, of the 2800 block of Eureka Drive, Yuba City; and Inderjit Singh, 28, of the 1700 block of Redhaven Avenue, Yuba City, were arrested by the Yuba City Police Department at 11:09 p.m. Feb. 21 at Sunsweet Boulevard on suspicion of making fictitious checks, criminal conspiracy, forgery, obtaining someone else’s personal ID, forging or passing a fictitious bill, and making or possessing counterfeit bills. They were booked into Sutter County Jail.

Jonathan W. Peterson, 40, of Marysville was arrested by the Yuba County Sheriff’s Office at 6:46 p.m. Feb. 21 in the 700 block of Yuba Street on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon other than a firearm. He was booked into Yuba County Jail.

Robert S. Phillips, 64, of Concord was arrested by the California Highway Patrol at 1:05 p.m. Feb. 21 on Highway 70 on suspicion of transporting a controlled substance for sale and possession of a controlled substance for sale. He was booked into Yuba County Jail.