By Jenny Lee Allen, Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Weeks after a driver smashed into her white Honda civic on Placida Road, Englewood resident Jessica Roach lay in bed with glass embedded in her skin and staples in her head.
The accident July 18 nearly killed her.
The man who hit her, however, remained free because it took weeks for the results of John Hart Chamberlin’s blood alcohol tests to be released. Tests revealed his blood-alcohol level was almost four times the limit at which a driver is considered drunk. “For months after my daughter’s accident he was out on the streets,” said her mother, Kathryn Roach. “That was very frustrating.”
Law enforcement officials here say that kind of delay will soon be a thing of the past.
Three sleek new machines that test for alcohol and drug content and quality in mere hours will soon be used on Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office cases. The Charlotte County Commission shelled out about a quarter of a million dollars for the equipment; the Sheriff’s Office pitched in an additional $ 50,000 from its seized-drug fund.
The equipment will help detectives solve crimes quicker, get criminals off the streets faster and put families’ minds at ease sooner. In Chamberlin’s case, the toxicology tests could have been turned around in a day and the warrant for his arrest could have been issued sooner.
“Justice delayed is justice denied. We could have put him away in July with this new technology,” said Sheriff Bill Clement. Chamberlin is scheduled for a Jan. 7 court date to face felony and misdemeanor DUI charges stemming from the Roach accident.
DUI cases are the most obvious use for the new machines, but Capt. Michael W. Gandy said other cases will also benefit, including homicides and other violent crimes.
Before, Gandy said, samples would be sent to a state crime lab and could take months to get back. By getting results quicker, criminals will be put behind bars sooner, and the streets will be safer.
“That’s the step that puts it over the line so we can make the arrest,” Gandy said.
Charlotte County Medical Examiner Dr. Riazul H. Imami said the results also help determine the amount and type of drugs that caused an overdose victim’s death.
“If someone’s loved one died, they want to know why and soon,” Imami said. “This lets them know faster, and can help them start the grieving process.”
It’s simple.
Toxicologists insert one small vial of human material -- blood for alcohol tests, urine for drug tests -- into a machine, then wait an hour for a computer to churn out the results. One machine tests strictly for alcohol; another for the quantity and quality of drugs. A third confirms the identity of drugs.
“It can’t be wrong,” Imami said.
Imami, 69, and his staff have set up the machines in a cold, hospital-like room in their Port Charlotte office and have been running practice tests the last several months.
By late December, Imami said the machines will be ready to use. In exchange for the money given by the Sheriff’s Office, Imami said his office will test their cases free for a year. Other agencies, such as the police department, will have to pay for the service. Imami said the price tag on the machines may seem high -- it’s five times the amount he spends annually on new equipment -- but it’s a dream come true for his office.
Cmdr. Jason Ciaschini of the Punta Gorda Police Department said the city does not often get cases that require toxicology tests. However, he said the department would consider sending casework to Imami’s office.
“It’s a nice resource to have available,” Ciaschini said.
Kathryn Roach called the machines wonderful. “Anything that would help put a man that nearly killed my daughter off the streets is great.”