A malfunctioning analysis machine contributed to a three-week delay for blood-alcohol test results in a fatal traffic accident involving three Ball State University students, a state official said Wednesday.
The lab became backed up when a machine at the State Department of Toxicology stopped working properly after the department moved to a new location on the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis campus, department director Peter Method said.
Muncie police officers drew blood from driver Todd Lamkin, 21, at the scene of the accident that killed freshman Travis Smith about five weeks ago, said Sgt. Brad Arey of the Muncie Police Department.
Lamkin was driving west on Riverside Avenue near Reserve Street when he hit a curb, swerved into oncoming traffic and hit a car head on, according to police reports.
Police gave Lamkin a partial sobriety test at the scene of the accident because he was injured, Arey said. Officers reported smelling alcohol and Lamkin admitted to drinking earlier, which gave the police probable cause to conduct a blood toxicology test, he said. Field sobriety tests usually include walk-and-turn and leg-stand tests, but police did not conduct them because Lamkin needed to be taken to the hospital, Arey said.
Officers at the scene conducted a Gaze Nystagmus test, which focuses on the person's eyes, Arey said. The person is asked to focus on a pen the officer holds, while the officer looks for involuntary eye movements.
"If you've been drinking, you have a reflex you can't control in your eyes," Arey said. "It can make it hard to focus."
The results of a full set of toxicology tests usually take two to three weeks, Arey said.
The department is almost caught up with its tests and should be back on schedule soon, Method said.
"We had to do some scrambling to get it repaired," Method said. "It was rendered inoperable for some period of time."
It will probably be another two weeks until the test results are completed and released, Arey said. The police will then send the test results and all other evidence to the Delaware County prosecutor's office, which will decide whether to press charges against Lamkin, Arey said.
"It takes a while [for toxicology results] sometimes," he said. "It puts everything at a standstill. Sometimes it takes three weeks. Sometimes it takes seven or eight weeks. The longest we've waited was 10 or 11 weeks."
Method said if the prosecutor's office files charges against Lamkin, the State Department of Toxicology might be subpoenaed as an expert witness.
"That's part of our responsibility," he said. "My purpose is to explain the results and verify that all the steps were done correctly. That's our purpose in going to court and testifying and providing that sort of information."
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