Drug Expert Spotted Use By Ex-Buc

By STEPHEN THOMPSON The Tampa Tribune

Published: Sep 15, 2007

PINELLAS PARK - Meet Eric Schroeder, an unassuming Pinellas Park police officer who likes to golf in his spare time, maybe go to the beach or on a weekend trip with his wife.

He is also the man who helped put the skids on the career of David Boston after the former Tampa Bay Buccaneer was found asleep at a traffic light, behind the wheel of a sport utility vehicle.

Initial tests turned up no illegal substances in Boston, but as a certified drug recognition expert, Schroeder is trained to look further. He asked the Pinellas County Forensic Laboratory to run another test on Boston's urine for GHB, a drug so rare in traffic cases that it was dropped from routine screenings.

On Monday, nearly three weeks later, Pinellas Park police announced that Schroeder's instincts were on the money: Despite Boston's contention he was merely fatigued, analysts found a high level of GHB in his system - roughly four times the dose that a patient would be legally prescribed as a treatment for sleep disorder.

Wednesday, the Bucs announced that the team had released Boston, calling the move an injury settlement. Boston hurt ligaments in his right foot while warming up for the season opener in Seattle on Sunday.

Schroeder, 34, knew to look for GHB, the so-called date rape drug, which moves through a user's system so fast some analysts won't bother testing for it after 12 hours pass. Credit an intensive, seven-day course Schroeder underwent in April for officers who want the tricky job of assessing impaired drivers for drugs, alcohol or both.

Part officer, part diagnostician, a DRE observes a driver's actions, makes an informed guess as to what the driver has taken, and hopes the laboratory results back him up when they come out weeks later.

Say the driver can't shut up. He could be on coke, Schroeder said.

Or his senses seem crossed, with statements such as, "Turn off your lights, it's hurting my ears." There might be a hallucinogen in his system, such as LSD, Schroeder said.

After his course at the Institute of Police Technology and Management in Jacksonville, there were signs that Schroeder, a five-year veteran of the department, would be good in this line of work. He had the highest score on the final exam. When he was sent to a methadone clinic, he correctly diagnosed the drugs involved in 12 out of 12 cases.

"You always hear on the news so-and-so was killed by a drunk driver," Schroeder said.

This is "something I've always wanted to do since I joined the department."

Boston's Traffic Stop

On Aug. 23, Boston was seen in a sport utility vehicle weaving in traffic before he finally stopped at a traffic light. Then, with the engine still running, he fell asleep or passed out at the wheel, Pinellas Park police reports say.

After he woke up, Boston was asked to perform a field sobriety test.

Boston failed to walk heel-to-toe and lost his balance, reports say. He also swayed when asked to stand on one leg, reports say.

After he complained about some sports injuries, Boston was given a chance to put his finger to his nose; he got it right only one out of five times. He was able to correctly recite the alphabet. The first patrol officer noted that Boston didn't have bloodshot or watery eyes, or alcohol on his breath. The officer did note some jerkiness in Boston's eye movements, the reports say.

Schroeder was called to assist. Based on Boston's eye movements, he quickly guessed the athlete might be under the influence of any of three types of drugs: central nervous system depressants, such as GHB; inhalants; or dissociative anesthetics, drugs that, depending on the amount used, can alter perception to the point a user doesn't feel pain.

Boston was arrested on a charge of driving under the influence. At the Pinellas County Jail, he was given a breath test, but the results were negative. A urine sample was tested for 10 common drugs, including cocaine, marijuana and OxyContin, but these results were negative, too.

Schroeder was undeterred. It was Boston's jerky eye movements.

The likelihood of inhalants was slim because their effects are short lived, Schroeder said. Boston could have been under the influence of a dissociative anesthetic, such as PCP, but his behavior during the field sobriety test wasn't erratic enough. That left central nervous system depressants, Schroeder said.

One in particular, GHB, came to mind, he said.

"I knew it was big in the bodybuilding world, and he was an athlete and very fit," Schroeder said. "I knew it was still used out in the sports world."

Schroeder specifically asked for a GHB test.

Who Uses 'Experts'

DREs have been working in law enforcement agencies since the 1970s, but some local police agencies have included them among their ranks only recently. Pinellas Park had its first in 2001, and the agency now has six, more than any other agency in the county, Pinellas Park police Capt. Sanfield Forseth said.

The agency put more on the street after residents cited traffic as one of their top concerns in community surveys. Two of the county's most widely used thoroughfares - U.S. 19 and Park Boulevard - cross inside the city limits.

The Pinellas sheriff's office has five DREs, according to the Institute of Police Technology and Management, while the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office has three and the Tampa Police Department has two.

"The investigation of DUI has become more and more complicated over the years," said Bruce Goldberger, director of toxicology at the University of Florida, "particularly with the increased use of illicit drugs, and now prescription drugs, in our drivers."

Pinellas sheriff's Sgt. Kenneth Page, in charge of the Pinellas sheriff's traffic enforcement unit, says a driver might seem impaired but register a blood alcohol level of only 0.04 on a breath test, well below the 0.08 legal limit for drivers.

That would prompt a DRE to seek a urine sample for drug testing, Page said.

Page and Goldberger noted a significant upswing among impaired drivers in the use of Xanax, the brand name for alprazolam, a drug prescribed for anxiety disorders.

What no one has seen lately is GHB.

The drug was common in the '90s "then it just dropped off the map," said Reta Newman, director for the Pinellas County Forensic Laboratory, where Boston's urine was tested.

Boston's "is the first positive case we've seen in a long time," Newman said. The lab tests for it in all sexual assault cases, "but not in DUI cases."

In Boston's case, the negative results were in quickly for all substances tested for - except GHB. The special test Schroeder ordered took longer.

Now, as the result of Schroeder's work, Newman said, the laboratory may include GHB in its standard screening for impaired drivers.

Reporter Stephen Thompson can be reached at (727) 451-2336 or spthompson@tampatrib.com.