A California man is fighting a DUI charge after a blood test revealed that he was driving with caffeine in his system.
Back in August 2015, 36-year-old Joseph Schwab was stopped by a Alcohol Beverage Control agent in Fairfield, California. According to an NBC news report, the agent claimed that he “was darting in-and-out of traffic, and she believed he was under the influence of a drug.”
Schwab passed a roadside field sobriety test, but was still taken to jail under suspicion of DUI.
After being arrested, Scwhab agreed to undergo a blood test. No traces of alcohol or illegal drugs were found in his system — the only drug that was discovered in his blood was caffeine.
Despite the test results, the Solano County District Attorney Krishna Abrams decided to proceed with the case.
The District Attorney’s office says that Schwab may have been under the influence of a drug that normal DUI tests don’t screen for. They say it will be a challenge for them to prove it in court due to the negative test results.
“This is a case without a blood result, right, so it makes it a very difficult challenge to prove in court to not have the blood result,” said District Attorney Abrams.
After more than a year of fighting the charges, Schwab says it has harmed his reputation, as well as his finances. He has asked the court to drop the charges.
