San Diego County‘s first jury trial for a DUI case involving nitrous oxide has resulted in guilty verdicts against a 34-year-old man.
Police confronted the defendant on March 10 after an officer saw him behind the wheel of a car that was partially on a sidewalk. He drove backward and forward several times and then struck a parked car as he tried to move his vehicle. When the officer approached the DUI driver, she saw him inhaling from a nitrous oxide canister.
He displayed “signs of impairment consistent with nitrous oxide use,” the San Diego City Attorney’s Office said, and police found ten nitrous oxide canisters inside the vehicle.
A San Diego County jury convicted the man of two misdemeanor counts of driving under the influence of a drug and possession of nitrous oxide with intent to inhale for purposes of intoxication.
He was sentenced to five years of probation and is required to undergo DUI education classes, drug and alcohol testing, and to pay restitution and fines. The city attorney’s office said the defendant promptly entered treatment after the crash and presented proof of his progress at the sentencing hearing, which was taken into consideration.
“Accountability and recovery are not opposites,” San Diego City Attorney Heather Ferbert said. “This defendant is doing the work, and the court took that into account. Our job was to ensure accountability for the dangerous choice he made behind the wheel, and we’re encouraged by his commitment to recovery.”
Nitrous oxide abuse is a growing problem
While nitrous oxide is legal for a variety of purposes ranging from medical to culinary, California has criminalized the recreational use of the drug.
The San Diego County District Attorney’s Office said last year that it has seen an uptick in DUI cases involving drivers under the influence of nitrous oxide, including three fatality cases and 18 that resulted in crashes.
“Impairment is impairment. It does not matter whether it comes from a bottle, a pill or a canister,” City Attorney Ferbert said after the guilty verdict.
“Even a few minutes behind the wheel while impaired is a few minutes too long. It takes just moments for an impaired driver to lose control and catastrophically harm someone. Impaired driving endangers everyone on the road.”
San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl added, “This verdict sends a clear message that driving under the influence of any substance endangers our community and will not be tolerated.”