Advertisement
Police charged Carl Steven Janiszewski, 20, of Winona with underage drinking, resisting arrest and having someone else’s identification after they found him walking erratically at 1:30 a.m. near Sanborn and Olmstead streets, police said.
Police called the Dakota County Receiving Center, a detoxification facility in Hastings, Minn., which refused to take the man because of his high alcohol concentration. Police instead took Janiszewski to Community Memorial Hospital, where staff treated him and transferred him to Hastings, police said.
Dr. Brett Whyte, a physician at CMH, said 0.40 percent is considered close to lethal. Detoxification facilities, like the one in Hastings or Zumbro Valley Mental Health Center in Rochester, will not accept patients at or above 0.40 percent until a doctor examines and treats them, he said.
“Generally, we give intravenous fluids to help dilute the alcohol and make them feel better,” Whyte said; the fluids contain vitamins, restore body fluids and help nourish the patient.
Whyte draws a blood sample to check liver function and electrolyte balance. A blood test, not a breath test, determines when the patient’s blood-alcohol level has dropped below 0.40 for admittance to a detoxification facility, Whyte said.
If a patient is suffering from alcohol withdrawal or seizures, doctors administer Ativan, an anti-anxiety drug, he said.
Blood-alcohol of 0.40 percent is quite high for someone who doesn’t drink often, Whyte said; however, an alcoholic might reach this level and be able to disguise their intoxication.
“They can walk and talk and make perfect sense at a 0.40,” he said.
Police take man mooning bar patrons to detox
In another detoxification incident Friday morning, a man mooning bar patrons at two taverns on West Fifth Street was taken to the hospital to dry out, Winona police said.
The 48-year-old man was dropping his drawers in front of bar patrons at EB’s Corner and the 500 Club, police said. His blood-alcohol level measured 0.23 percent, police said.
Reporter Jeff Dankert can be reached at (507) 453-3513 or jdankert@winonadailynews.com.
