How much alcohol will trigger a BAC of 0.01 percent?

Justin L. Mack

A toxicology expert says an Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officer who showed up at a shooting range Monday morning with a blood-alcohol content of 0.01 percent could have been still recovering from a night of drinking.

It’s also possible that the officer may have had a beer with breakfast.

On Tuesday afternoon, IMPD officials announced that an officer attended a Monday morning training session at the department’s shooting range smelling of an alcoholic beverage. A test was administered, and the officer was found to be at work with a BAC of 0.01 percent.

The officer, who IMPD did not identify, was placed on administrative duty while an internal investigation is being conducted.

George Behonick, a forensic toxicologist with Indianapolis drug-screening company AIT Laboratories, said 0.01 percent is a very low BAC and one that an individual could reach by having less than a can of beer or a glass of wine.

Behonick said if a 150 pound man has one standard drink, it would give him a BAC of about 0.025 percent. A standard drink is defined as 12 ounces of beer, 4 ounces of wine or one shot of 80 proof alcohol.

But that BAC of 0.025 percent would only be achieved if all of the alcohol is instantaneously absorbed, Behonick explained, and that is usually not the case in a social drinking situation.

“People stop and they talk and they sit. So if you look at a 150 pound man over the course of an hour having one drink, you’re probably looking at a (BAC) that is very close to 0.01,” Behonick said. “That’s because the rate of elimination of alcohol is 0.015 percent per hour.”

Size and lean body mass also play major roles in BAC. For example, Behonick said, one standard drink would give a 200 pound man a BAC of 0.02 percent. In a 120 pound woman, it would yield a BAC of 0.03 percent.

A BAC of 0.08 percent is considered drunken driving under Indiana law.

Behonick said it’s also not unheard of for someone who has been drinking heavily the night before to still have a BAC of 0.01 percent or higher when going into work the next day.

“It depends on the job. Some places have a zero tolerance policy, even if it is for residual alcohol,” Behonick said. “If you’re an airline pilot, you can’t show up and have a 0.01.”

Behonick explained that while some mouthwashes and medicines may have an alcohol content that could result in a 0.01 percent BAC, those substances would not result in the smell associated with the consumption of alcohol.

He added that when people smell like they have been drinking, it’s not the alcohol you smell. It’s the chemicals and additives of the alcohol beverage.

“There are different brands of mouthwash. ... I use Listerine, and that’s going to leave a more medicinal or mouth freshening odor because that is the intention. It’s not going to smell like I’ve been drinking vodka or gin or Budweiser or something like that,” he said. “The smell may be harder to detect if it was from a night before or if it was just one drink earlier in the morning unless you’ve got somebody really adept at detecting it.”
