DUI charges dismissed after Forest Park police arrest woman with 0.000 BrAC
DUI charges against Clayton County woman dropped after mistake found
A Clayton County woman says she essentially has been under "house arrest" for the last five months after police in Forest Park wrongfully arrested her for driving under the influence. Kaila Mills blew a zero on a breath test back in February, but records show the arresting officer misread the data. The charges have since been dropped.
FOREST PARK, Ga. - Nearly five months have passed since Forest Park Police arrested Kaila Mills for DUI and the charges against her have now been dropped.
Mills was headed home February 13 when an officer pulled her over on Forest Parkway a little after 3 a.m.
In her report, Sgt. Brittney Sparks said she watched Mills "swerve within the lane."
Officers instructed Mills to do a series of field sobriety tests including walking heel to toe and standing on one foot.
"My feet hurt. I've been in heels all night, so excuse me," Mills could be heard saying on video of the stop captured by the officers' body worn cameras.
After consulting with other officers on scene, Sgt. Sparks placed Mills under arrest for DUI and transported her to the police station for a breath test.
"I'm not drunk though," Mills protested.
Mills admitted she had two drinks during dinner, but that was around 9 p.m.--six hours before the traffic stop.
According to results from the department's Intoxilyzer 9000, Mills' measured Breath Alcohol Concentration (BrAC) was 0.000. Sgt. Sparks, however, wrote in her report that "Kaila blew BAC of 1.38."
1.38 was actually the "breath volume" listed on the breath report.
"There was no alcohol in her system after the test was taken," explained Alex Henson, an associate attorney with the W. Scott Smith law firm in Atlanta. "The arresting officer misread the report."
Police charged Mills with DUI and failure to maintain lane and notified the Georgia Department of Driver Services, which suspended her license.
Once they discovered the error in early May, Henson and other attorneys representing Mills notified Sgt. Sparks and Forest Park Solicitor Andres Marierose. Sgt. Sparks said she could not dismiss the charges and Marierose said Mills would have to wait until her scheduled court date July 6.
In a hearing lasting only about four minutes, Marierose finally dismissed the charges Wednesday.
Solicitor Marierose declined to speak to FOX 5, but said in an email, "this was the best outcome Mrs. Mills could have hoped for regardless of the time it took to reach it."
While Henson said that was the right conclusion to the case, he said it should have been reached sooner.
"I think it should have ended on May 10th--the day after I contacted the solicitor," said Henson.
Henson said he worries there may be other people out there who have been put in similar situations to that of his client.
"There's definitely something wrong in Forest Park that that many law enforcement officers allowed her to be arrested and taken to the jail after that test result," Henson said. "They simply had no understanding of how to read that breathalyzer report."
FOX 5 reached out to the Forest Park Police chief, but he did not respond.