Paul Pelosi's blood alcohol content likely much higher at time of crash: experts

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EXCLUSIVE DETAILS: Police made at least two stops with Paul Pelosi in custody before bringing him to jail following a May 28 crash for which he is now facing a pair of DUI charges – and he had more than 2 hours to burn off alcohol in his system before investigators took a blood sample.

Authorities confirmed to Fox News Digital that the 82-year-old was taken to Queen of the Valley Hospital for treatment of any potential injuries before arriving at a Napa County jail – a routine step in a serious motor vehicle crash, according to the sheriff’s department.

According to a criminal complaint, at around 10:17 p.m. on May 28, a 911 caller reported the crash near the intersection of California Route 29 and Oakville Cross Road, about 5 miles from Pelosi’s vineyard estate.

CalFire medics and Napa deputies responded to the scene first, according to prosecutors, but California Highway Patrol handled the case.

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Paul Pelosi (L) and Nancy Pelosi attend the Bloomberg & Vanity Fair cocktail reception following the 2015 WHCA Dinner at the residence of the French Ambassador on April 25, 2015 in Washington, DC. (Dimitrios Kambouris/VF15/WireImage)

Records show CHP officially arrested Pelosi, the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, at 11:44 p.m., before they took the blood sample at their Napa office. Fox News Digital was first to report that police alleged Pelosi handed officers his driver’s license and an "11-99 Foundation" card when they asked for his ID. The foundation is a charity that supports CHP officers and provides scholarships for their children.

Police obtained the sample at 12:32 a.m. on May 29, 2 hours and 15 minutes after police received the 911 call. The result found his BAC to be .082%.

Pelosi is 6 feet, 2 inches tall and weighs around 200 pounds, according to the criminal complaint. But the human body burns off alcohol at a standard rate of about .016% per hour, regardless of a person’s size, according to legal and medical experts. At the time of the crash, Pelosi’s BAC was likely higher than at the time of the test.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband Paul Pelosi poses for a mugshot following a California DUI arrest. (Napa County Department of Corrections)

"California lawyers are well aware that blood alcohol is [metabolized] at a fixed rate, so much per hour," one retired attorney told Fox News Digital. "So the 0.82% of alcohol in Mr. Pelosi's bloodstream hours after the crash can easily be converted to a substantially higher BAC at the time of the crash."

And it can be done so "with legally admissible precision," he said.

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Estimating that he stopped drinking about an hour before driving and was not actively imbibing behind the wheel, he may have had a BAC of between .105% and .127% at the time of the crash, according to Dr. John Brick, a forensic psychopharmacology expert based in Yardley, Pennsylvania.

"At the lowest estimate, the relative risk for a fatal single car crash based on age, gender and BAC is 17 to 31 times greater as compared with sober controls," he told Fox News Digital Thursday. "The majority of drinkers do not display reliable signs of visible intoxication, slurred speech, trouble walking, etc., until the BAC is above .15%."

At the scene of the crash, both Pelosi and the other driver declined medical attention.

Officers observed "signs of impairment," including "red/watery eyes," according to a criminal complaint obtained by Fox News Digital, and said he failed field sobriety tests.

Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi and husband Paul Pelosi.  (Photo by Samuel Corum/AFP via Getty Images))

The other driver, a John Doe, days later told investigators that he had begun suffering headaches, pain in his arm, neck and shoulder and was having difficulty lifting things with his right arm. He was seeking medical care from a physician.

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Were there witnesses?

Napa County District Attorney Allison Haley’s office has maintained that it cannot release evidence, including witness testimony, medical diagnoses, photographs and body or dashcam video under California ethics rules. 

"At the time of initial contact, Mr. Paul Pelosi was the sole occupant of his Porsche and seated in the driver’s seat," the criminal complaint reads. "Victim John Doe was contacted standing outside his sport utility vehicle."

It remains unclear whether there were passengers in either of the vehicles. Passengers are not always mentioned in the complaints.

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For example, in the Venice Beach hit-and-run involving a teen driving a stolen car the wrong-way up a backstreet, the victim confirmed that a second juvenile had been a passenger in the car at the time she and her baby’s stroller were struck. She even shared photos of the two juveniles being questioned by police. Only the driver was charged (and later convicted), and the passenger went unmentioned in the complaint.

A CHP spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Pelosi arrived at the jail around 4:13 a.m. and was booked, cited and released by 7:26 a.m.

Pelosi pleaded not guilty to a pair of misdemeanor DUIs involving injury charges Wednesday morning and is due back on court on Aug. 23.