Drunken Driver Drinks Wite-Out In Police Custody

Maybe he was trying to mask his breath. Maybe he needed something to wash down the burrito he had eaten. Maybe he just wanted to bleach his teeth.

Whatever the case, as a repeat drunken driver sat waiting for Omaha police personnel to test his breath, he opened up a different bottle and drank. The substance? Wite-Out.

Apparently fueled by liquid courage, Juan Briceno took a gulp of Liquid Paper or Wite-Out or whatever brand of chalky correction fluid that was sitting on an Omaha police desk. It didn't work.

This week, a jury convicted Briceno of felony fourth-offense drunken driving for the May 2007 arrest that led the burly 33-year-old Omaha man to consume correction fluid.

Briceno now may be headed to a correctional facility. He faces up to 20 years in prison or five years of probation when he is sentenced in October.

He'll have a nice souvenir: Briceno's swig was captured by police surveillance videotape.

It all happened in May when Briceno was taken to the police station after failing field sobriety tests. The tape shows, as the officer sorted through paperwork, Briceno picked up the correction fluid bottle. He twirled the bottle, rolled it on the desk, glanced over his shoulder, opened the cap and raised the bottle to his lips.

He took a gulp, then wiped his mouth with the back of his left hand. An Omaha police evidence technician then entered the room to administer the breath test and noticed Briceno's mime-white lips. The incredulous officer couldn't believe Briceno drank from the Wite-out bottle on the table.

The bottle label warned that the fluid was flammable and can be harmful or fatal if inhaled. But the question was: Did it work? Did the correction fluid counteract the other fluids on Briceno's breath?

No such luck. Officers simply escorted Briceno to Creighton University Medical Center for a blood test. Turns out, Briceno may have wanted to save the Wite-Out for the hospital's reports. Medical personnel registered his blood-alcohol content at .28, three and a half times the legal limit.

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