Woman's Blood-Alcohol Level Tests at Almost 9 Times Legal Limit, Authorities Say
A South Dakota woman reportedly found slumped behind the wheel of a stolen vehicle by state troopers on Dec. 1 apparently set a new state record when, authorities say, her blood-alcohol tested at .708. That’s nearly nine times the .08 legal limit that must be shown to prove a drunken-driving case.
The test result for 45-year-old Marguerite Engle is also significantly higher than the .40 level generally considered lethal, according to the Rapid City Journal.
“She was almost double that,” Meade County State’s Attorney Jesse Sondreal tells the New York Daily News, describing the test result as “almost incomprehensible.”
However, it’s not a national record: Another woman was arrested in Oregon in 2007 after scoring a .720 on a blood-alcohol test.
Meanwhile, Engle has been released from the hospital to which she was taken after her arrest and freed on bail. However, she was back in jail again last week after allegedly being found passed out behind the wheel of another stolen vehicle, the newspapers recount.
Results of a blood-alcohol test in the new case are still pending, Sondreal says.
The articles don’t include any comment from Engle or her attorney.
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