DANVERS — A police officer witnesses erratic driving and finds a driver with red, glassy eyes and a ruddy face. A breath test reveals a blood alcohol level of .08. A typical drunken-driving case?
Not exactly.
That's because it happened on the morning of the Danversport explosion and involved a Peabody man who said he was blown out of his bed by the blast just seven hours before his arrest.
Yesterday, a Salem District Court jury cleared Mark Wells, 50, of a drunken-driving charge stemming from his arrest on Nov. 22, 2006.
His defense: The blast at the CAI/Arnel plant on Water Street, just blocks from his home at 22 Westview Circle, Peabody, had knocked him out of his bed and into a nightstand. It blew in the doors of his house and knocked the house partly off its foundation.
Like most of his neighbors, Wells didn't sleep a wink after that, then headed to work, only to be sent home 90 minutes later by his boss, who told him he looked terrible. As he made his way down Endicott Street shortly after 9 a.m., he encountered a roadblock and decided to make a U-turn.
That's where Patrolman Kevin Woods, who was on his way from the blast scene to get some food, first spotted Wells. Woods told the jury that Wells nearly collided with a car in the opposite travel lane, then weaved as he headed west on Endicott. The officer said he saw Wells stop short twice and then pulled him over.
Woods said he smelled alcohol and said Wells bungled his field sobriety tests, mixing up letters of the alphabet, holding out his arms for balance during another test and unable to stand on one leg for more than a few seconds. Woods arrested Wells.
Back at the station, Wells took a breath-alcohol test and registered a .08. That's the level at which state law says a driver can be presumed to be impaired by alcohol.
But Wells' lawyer, Patrick Regan, cast doubt on the results. Wells admitted drinking three beers the night before. Regan argued that police did not watch Wells for the required 20 minutes before the test and questioned its accuracy.
And he cast doubt on the officer's observations, noting that the officer himself was awakened by the blast and had been on duty since 3 a.m. He accused Woods of "laying it on heavy" in his report.
The failed alphabet test? The result of dyslexia. The difficulty with the one-legged stand? An old hockey injury, perhaps, the lawyer suggested.
"In our system of justice, the benefit of the doubt belongs to Mr. Wells," Regan argued.
Prosecutor Lisa Core countered that there's no question the explosion was a "horrific and extraordinary event" and that Wells and his family "had a really bad night."
But, if anything, the explosion only bolsters the case — because a tired, hungry and cold police officer, up all night and just released for his first break, wouldn't have made the arrest if he didn't have to, Core suggested.
Nor does the explosion "explain the strong odor of alcohol, flushed appearance, red and glassy eyes," Core said.
"He had enough to drink the night before that when he got behind the wheel his blood alcohol level was .08 and he was impaired," Core argued to jurors.
And, she argued, "that's all you need is the .08 under Massachusetts law."
But the jury disagreed. At one point, jurors asked Judge Dunbar Livingston whether they had to be unanimous on both theories — that Wells was impaired and that he registered a .08. Livingston told them they had to be unanimous on one or the other.
About an hour later, they returned their verdict.
Wells was found responsible for failing to stay within marked lanes and driving without a license in his possession, but those charges were filed without any penalty or fine.
