2 drivers notch DUI breathalyzer tests over 5 times legal limit in separate crashes

FREDERICKSON, Wash. -- Two suspected drunk drivers were arrested in separate incidents Wednesday but both found to have blood alcohol contents more than five times the legal limit!

In Frederickson, deputies received a 911 call just before 8 p.m. from a woman who said that her SUV had been rear-ended at stoplight at 200th St. E and Canyon Road, and that the driver got out and tried to run away, the Pierce County Sheriff's Department said.

Witnesses told arriving deputies the driver appeared to be drunk and had dropped his wallet when he ran off. Police found their suspect staggering in the middle of 50th Ave. E. -- about a quarter-mile away from the crash site. As they approached the man, they said they could see he was very unsteady on his feet and had fallen about seven or eight times, and reeked of alcohol, according to the sheriff's department.

As deputies put the man in handcuffs, the man urinated on himself, officials said.

He was taken to the police station where the suspect blew a .444 and .445 on the breathalyzer test -- more than 5.5 times the legal limit of 0.08. Deputies noted the machine maxes out at .500.

Given the man's high alcohol content, deputies called for an ambulance to take him to a local hospital for treatment. Once released, he was to be booked for investigation of DUI hit-and-run.

"Considering the time of day, the speeds and rural location of the roadway/intersection, and the extreme level of intoxication of the driver it is VERY fortunate that someone was not seriously injured or killed," the Pierce County Sheriff's Department said.

Meanwhile, in Mason County...

Washington State Patrol troopers in Mason County also found someone nearly as intoxicated.

They posted a photo on Twitter of a breathalyzer that registered .424 on a driver who was stopped after they crashed their car.

Troopers didn't give any further details on that crash or suspect.