JALLEN wrote: . . . To a certain extent, this is understandable to anyone who has ever played the game where everyone sits in a circle, then someone whispers a common saying to the person next to him or her, that person whispers what (s)he heard to the next person etc all around the circle, whereupon the last person announces what he heard. Almost every time, "Remember the Alamo" comes out "Better living through Chemistry" or something completely different than what the original person started with.
Some years ago, a pistol was stolen from my home. Eventually, I ended up down at the local station giving a report to an officer who diligently wrote in the little notebook they all seem to carry. When I eventually received a copy of the report, I was astonished at the variances between what I reported and what the report actually said. On another occasion, my communications to the detective about the status of endorsement of a check was mishandled in the police report and resulted in someone being arrested for a felony, wrongly, and I narrowly avoided being sued over it! Needless to say, I view police reports as not necessarily the last word in evidentiary reliability, unless corroborated by other credible evidence.
Being charged with intoxication days after the event, with no reference in any police report of intoxication, would be suspicious to me, and put the DA behind in the race for proof beyond a reasonable doubt. It could be overcome but there had better be a really good story about it and lots of corroboration.
Indeed the Whisper Game.
In my own case the doctor's "dictation" (for that is what they kept referring to it as) kept me from getting an on the job injury treated: A) Promptly; B) As an on the job injury, and the effects will last the rest of my life. I injured my shoulder in Boot Camp in the Navy in 1967 (minor, not reported), then again aboard ship in 1968 (minor, reported and treated), and once more in 1972 working for the phone company (minor, reported and treated). Never had another shoulder issue until I was working for TSA in 2003 and I tried to lift a VERY heavy bag (way over the 75 pound limit) and people on the other side of a noisy room heard the pop and tear when it went.
After xrays and MRIs and CT scans the doctor said it looked like there might have been a prior injury, and I explained the circumstances of those three occasions, and that went in his notes as "Long history of shoulder injuries" which of course resulted in a denial of the claim by Workman's Comp, and even a denial of full coverage by my own insurance (who claimed that it was both an on the job injury and therefore not covered, and a prior injury and not covered.) And the surgery that was done did not fix all of the problems, so I am sentenced to a lifetime of pain unless and until I can come up with the cash to cover the necessary surgeries myself.
So much for being honest and aboveboard.
The doctor, when asked to correct his notes, recalled what I had said to him, but said he could not modify his notes in any way because they were the official record, etc, etc, etc.
I'll bet a police officer's notebook is considered the "ne plus ultra" of evidence and whatever he writes is always the official version.
DKA is a well known condition that can be confused with alcohol intoxication.
