You can always find a lawyer to cover your butt!

A former Seattle police detective whose breath-alcohol content was measured at nearly six times the legal limit when police stopped her last week for drunken driving was arrested again Thursday on charges of being a “danger to public safety.”

King County prosecutors obtained a warrant for Deana F. Jarrett, 54, who was pulled over twice last week for investigation of drunken driving, the second time registering a record .47 on a field breath-alcohol test, police say. The legal limit is .08.

Jarrett worked for the Seattle Police Department from 1979 to 1998, leaving shortly after a judge dismissed her lawsuit alleging sexual harassment and defamation against the department. At the time, her name was Deana Karst.

In 2003, King County sheriff’s reports show that her 11-year-old daughter twice called 911 about her mother’s intoxication. In one incident, sheriff’s deputies found her unconscious. In another case, the daughter described how her mother pulled a gun from her purse and placed it in her lap while intoxicated, according to police reports.

In both cases, authorities placed the daughter into protective custody, court records say.

A doctor interviewed for TV news coverage said that only a chronic alcoholic could have survived. A casual drinker probably would have died of alcohol poisoning.



  1. Mr. Fusion says:

    Blowing 0.47 !!! That is a lethal amount, and certainly she would have lost consciousness. The only way she could have blown this much is if the machine was faulty, the driver burped, or she had alcohol still in her mouth. Because she was conscious The machine reading will be easily challenged. Let’s hope the police also got a blood sample.

  2. Docred says:

    #1…actually, I had a friend blow .32 many years ago (bloodtest confirmed the reading), and he was still driving and talking (albeit in a random, nonsensical fashion). With enough tolerance built up, someone can blow that much and live. With a LOT of tolerance built up….

  3. oldfield says:

    Hell, where I grew up in the Midwest, 0.47 was known as just getting warmed up.

  4. TJGeezer says:

    Sounds like she still had some 100-proof or higher in her mouth. Maybe as some kind of drunken joke, given her alcoholic behavior. Her blood alcohol levels from a blood test would be interesting to know.

    Alcohol: The cheapest legal tranq, or so my alcoholic uncle called it. Buyt hey, better keep less dangerous, less damaging intoxicants like grass on the books a felonies.

    Wotta world.

  5. James Hill says:

    Sounds like date material for the crowd that hangs out here.

  6. moss says:

    Click the link, folks. The officer who administered the test specifically waited 15 minutes to allow for any recent swig of booze.

  7. TJGeezer says:

    5 – An amateur like her? Nah.

    6 – Wouldn’t be long enough if burped some up just before the test. Blood test would still be a better indicator. I mean – .47? C’mon. More likely the breath test was faulty. But you’re right, Moss. If she ws drifting in and out of awareness, she was in no condition to hold booze in her mouth intentionally. Wonder if they retested just to eliminate a faulty reading…

  8. OhForTheLoveOf says:

    #5 – Sounds like date material for the crowd that hangs out here.

    Comment by James Hill — 4/20/2007 @ 12:38 pm

    Hmmmm

    YOU hang out here. Do you want to see if I can her number for you?

  9. John Paradox says:

    Happy 420!

    But the other man’s grass is always greener!

    J/P=?

  10. tallwookie says:

    sometimes its greener

  11. Brenda Helverson says:

    As a follow-up, a Judge found that she was a danger to society and had her arrested.

  12. Happy420 says:

    Hi, #12 – Brenda, thanks for your response, you’re an entirely boring twit!

    Anyway, back to reality, I love all the nut-balls coming out of the woodwork now, bloggin/sayin/braggin/supportin, “Yeah, I would have done that Virginia Tech thang with MORE pizazz and death!!!”

    As for drunk driving: the Fed Gubment is scared of a MAJOR side-effect of THC: rebellion from rational thought. Tommy J. and a bunch of his budz, several decades ago, used to get together to toke up and share their shyte and test for potency. Then, one day, somebody said, “HEY THIS KING SHYTE IS BULLSHYTE!!!”

    Thus, the gubment of the king was overthrown (long story), and a better government was established. It flourished with public support until Anslinger, whose head was so far up his ass he thought he could see gH0D.

    Human fallibility, primarily GREED, is the primary problem in society. It isn’t drugs or booze or tobacco or THC or alcohol or nicotine, IT IS YOUR OWN FAILINGS TO TAKE CARE OF YOUR BRETHREN that causes societal failure. This includes the ignorant theocratic folks of some cultures.

    I just farted.

  13. TheGlobalWarmer says:

    Dr. Johnny Fever could have won the Indy 500 at .47…

  14. Mr. Fusion says:

    #14 To your character of fiction I would add some more fiction, “You’re right”.

  15. TakeIT2 says:

    Yea, kids don’t try this at home, at least your first time out. Work your way up to it, then like the Sadu, devote yourself 24/7.

    So you wanna be a RockN Roll Star, then listen now to what I say… It’s all a wicked game you’re a little insane.

    @3 – warmed up? You let yourself cool off? The only way to archive a score like .47 is maintaining the 24/7


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