I-5 driver's blood-alcohol was 6 times limit, WSP says

SHORELINE, Wash. -- The Washington State Patrol says it arrested a man who had been driving on Interstate 5 in Shoreline with a blood-alcohol content six times the legal limit.

A trooper responded to a report of an erratic driver a little before 11 a.m. Thursday. He found the 31-year-old Shoreline man passed out in a silver Volvo that was stopped in a grassy area just off the shoulder. The vehicle was in drive with the engine running and the driver's foot on the brake.

The driver wouldn't wake up, and firefighters brought him to Northwest Hospital. The hospital reported his blood-alcohol concentration as 0.48 percent, which is above the level medical experts consider to be potentially fatal. The legal limit is 0.08 percent.

The patrol says the driver had three previous DUIs in another state.