WINONA, Minn. – After a quick database check of car-owners, a city police officer was waiting when Cody James Allen, 37, drove into his apartment parking lot. An anonymous tipster about 11 p.m. had called the police dispatcher that a very drunk man had just driven off from the hospital. The caller had a license plate number. Through online records, the dispatcher traced the car owner in seconds to the apartment complex on the Cottonwood Drive dead-end at the far end of town from the hospital – four miles away — and sent an officer. When Cody drove in, the officer walked up and engaged in casual conversation. Common signs of intoxication showed, the officer said: Bloodshot, watery eyes, slurred speech, stumbling. Then came empirical evidence. A sobriety testing device showed Allen’s blood contained 0.28% alcohol – 3-1/l2 times the threshold for drunkenness.
