US: Drink-driving charges dismissed against woman whose 'body is a brewery'

During the New Year's celebrations, many revellers appointed a designated driver to get them home to avoid any run-ins with the law. However one woman in the US has had drink driving charges dismissed because of a rare condition which effectively makes her body a brewery.

A judge in the Buffalo suburb of Hamburg has dismissed charges against the woman whose condition converts food in her digestive system into alcohol.

She was arrested while driving with a blood-alcohol level more than four times the legal limit in New York state. She insisted she hadn't had more than three drinks in the six hours before she was pulled over for erratic driving in 2014.

Her lawyer Joseph Marusak presented evidence that showed she had "auto-brewery syndrome". The Telegraph reported how nurses monitored her to document she drank no alcohol, and to take several blood samples for testing.

"At the end of the day, she had a blood-alcohol content of .36 without drinking any alcoholic beverages," he said. He added the woman also bought a Breathalyser and blew into it every night for 18 days, registering around .20 every time. The legal threshold for drunkenness in New York is 0.08.

Mr Marusak declined to name the woman, citing medical confidentiality laws.

The Buffalo News described her as a 35-year-old school teacher, and quoted the arresting officer as saying she had bloodshot eyes, slurred speech, and failed several field sobriety tests.