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Public Deserves Explanation After Arrest

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By TOM JACKSON

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 1, 2008

Because even under the most favorable circumstances Steve O'Neill is as chatty as a clam, we don't know what was on the 47-year-old Port Richey city councilman's mind early on the morning of May 25 when he climbed behind the wheel of his 2001 Ford.

We don't know where he had been, where he was going or what, precisely, he had been celebrating, or for how long. We also don't know why he was in a hurry.

We don't know if someone attempted to dissuade him from getting behind the wheel. We don't know if someone offered to drive him where he needed to go or to summon a cab on his behalf.

Nonetheless, what we don't know is window dressing compared with what came to be in O'Neill's arrest report, the drafting of which was triggered when an alert Pasco County sheriff's deputy detected the councilman's Ford zipping north along U.S. 19 well above the posted limit about 2:30 a.m.

The report's details paint an altogether familiar, unfortunate and potentially horrifying portrait: When the deputy engaged the speeding car, he noticed its failure to maintain a straight, steady line. And when the motorist pulled over, the deputy discovered the classic symptoms of alcohol intoxication: glassy, bloodshot eyes; slurred speech; an inability to follow simple instructions.

Add the stench of alcohol on his breath, and our agent of law enforcement was sufficiently empowered to seek a blood-alcohol level. O'Neill complied, twice registering stratospheric results: 0.175 and 0.165 - each more than twice the statutory threshold for presumed impairment (0.08).

Blowing Lid Off BAC

Now, achieving such a spectacular BAC level is no simple task. Contrary to the conventional wisdom that prevails at the corner tavern, adults do not obliterate the legal limit by consuming "just a couple of beers" or launch into serious legal difficulty with just a couple more.

The Internet abounds with links to blood-alcohol content calculators; Googled, the phrase produces 576,000 hits, some more obviously trustworthy than others. BAC estimates produced by sites sponsored by law enforcement agencies, universities and testing equipment manufacturers deliver results reaffirming that the 0.08 standard is not some sneaky "gotcha" level adopted by legislatures hungry for fine money.

So, relax. Two beers with a burger at a sports bar never put anybody over the DUI hump.

A 0.165 blood-alcohol level doesn't just sneak up on a fellow; it has to be worked at.

Unacceptable Silence

This is much of why we cannot accept Port Richey's official silence in the matter.

Possibly, we can agree with Port Richey Mayor Richard Rober, who describes O'Neill as a good and upstanding fellow who committed "a foolish mistake." We can even agree with the mayor that O'Neill was "in the wrong place at the wrong time," if what he means by that is behind the wheel (wrong place) while hopelessly drunk (wrong time).

What we absolutely cannot abide, however, is the failure, during last week's lengthy meeting, of O'Neill's city council peers to seek an explanation. The official accounting of O'Neill's activities during the night in question indicate that their colleague has embarrassed the board and disgraced his office.

Whether O'Neill is obliged to provide his side is between him and his attorney. The members' reluctance to have O'Neill declare at least that much suggests they are willing to keep their colleague's arrest out of the board's official record. Such reluctance betrays the people of Port Richey.

Tom Jackson can be reached at (813) 948-4219.

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