Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

LITTLE COMPTON -- A Little Compton man who was arrested yesterday afternoon had a blood-alcohol content of .578, the police said -- a potentially lethal concentration of alcohol in the bloodstream.

Jonathan M. Holmes, 39, of 63 West Main Rd. was arrested yesterday at his residence on the felony charge of domestic driving without the owner's consent, a Little Compton police news release said.

Months ago, the Journal reported about a case involving a drunk-driving charge -- which the Little Compton case does not -- in which a North Providence man, Stanley Kobierowski, was believed by authorities to have had the highest ever chemical breath-test readings recorded in Rhode Island

State police in July gave Kobierowski two chemical breath tests, which returned readings of .489 and .491. Kobierowski admitted, by pleading no contest in District Court, that he was driving drunk late on the night of July 21, when his pickup truck crashed into a portable electronic message board on Route 95 near Providence Place Mall. The Journal reported that, prior to the court plea, the state attorney general's office was trying to determine Kobierowski's blood-alcohol content as determined by Rhode Island Hospital; the chemical breath test machine readings were not from the hospital, but, rather, conducted by state troopers.

Someone is considered driving while under the influence in Rhode Island if blood-alcohol content is .08 or higher.

It was not not yet known whether the blood-alcohol reading the Little Compton police say was obtained from Holmes came from the same chemical machine test or, if from another kind of test, would be directly comparable to the chemical breath test readings.

At about 2:29 p.m. yesterday, officers were sent to the address for a report that a vehicle had been taken without owner's consent. Holmes' mother made the complaint to the police.

Officers said Holmes was "extremely unsteady on his feet" and that his breath smelled strongly of alcohol, the police statement said. As the police drove Holmes to police headquarters, an officer noted Holmes was "slumped over" in the back of the cruiser and unresponsive. The officer contacted dispatch to alert rescue personnel of Holmes' condition.

Little Compton rescue took Holmes, under arresting officers' supervision, to Newport Hospital where he was treated for severe intoxication.

Holmes was later discharged and returned to police headquarters where he was booked and later arraigned in District Court, Newport, on the domestic driving without the owner's consent charge, the police said.

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney, with Journal archival reports

 Tags  alcohol arrest high blood-alchohol content Little Compton

Comments

Spence said:

Party on......JOHN HOLMES!!!! ;-)

Couldn't POSSIBLY be an accurate reading as the guy would be either comatose or dead (un;ess his tolerance is so high he hasn't been sober in 10 years).

Link | November 26, 2008 2:39 PM
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