Teen’s Hairspray Set Off Alcohol Monitor, Judge Says

A Florida teen who works as a receptionist in a hair salon is facing trial in January in a fatal auto accident case.

However, 17-year-old Elyse Tirico won't have her pretrial release revoked in the meantime, even though an ankle bracelet that monitors blood alcohol through perspiration alerted several times on July 15. At any evidentiary hearing earlier this month, Walton County Circuit Judge Kelvin Wells found that hairspray had apparently triggered the alarm after a representative of the company that manufactures the anklet admitted this could have happened, reports the Daily News, a northwest Florida newspaper.

The alcohol in hairspray—and in other products including some toiletries, perfumes and cleaning supplies—can trigger a false alert that a wearer has been drinking, testified Alcohol Monitoring Systems Inc. co-founder Jeff Hawthorne in response to questioning by Tirico's lawyer, Clay Adkinson. His testimony has since been supplemented by a company press release describing how the monitor works and saying that it did not register a false positive.

Several individuals also provided affidavits that they had seen Tirico on July 15 and she didn't appear to be intoxicated, the newspaper recounts. The SCRAM (Secure Continuous Remote Alcohol Monitor) anklet showed her blood alcohol to exceed .02 that day.

Tirico has been charged with driving under the influence and DUI manslaughter concerning a Jan. 4 accident that resulted in the death of a 16-year-old classmate who was a passenger in her car.

Updated on Sept. 15 to link to press release.