MARK WAITE / PVT Cadet Cory Fowles, at left, checks out subject Katie Hulderman using the horizontal gaze nystagmus test, which gauges involuntary jerking of the eye as an indication a driver could be intoxicated. MARK WAITE / PVT Cadet Heather Trumble watches as Highway Patrolman Scott Cobel, participating in a DUI training exercise, stumbles during a field sobriety test after drinking five Jack Daniels and Cokes. Advertisement

The shoe was on the other foot, literally, Friday afternoon as law enforcement officials were stumbling drunk.

They were being tested by five cadets in the Nye County Sheriff's Academy DUI practical training program.

"Do you have any physical disabilities or defects?" cadet Cory Fowles asked Katie Hulderman, a front office assistant at the sheriff's department.

"Does it look like I have any physical disabilities or defects?" she responded.

"I'll take that as a no," Fowles said.

Hulderman registered a 0.074 blood-alcohol level, just below the legal limit of intoxication at the start of the training exercise, thanks to about six ounces of vodka mixed with grapefruit juice, courtesy of the sheriff's department.

Dep. Jim Scott, a senior training and command officer, said the test subjects, like Huldeman, are asked to be a little testy with the officers. But otherwise, cadets got their first test of checking drunken drivers in a controlled environment at the sheriff's department, instead of out on the street where a combative suspect may put up a fight.

"At the same time, we're not going to fight them, we're not going to give it to them, someone should just stand there and just say 'Yes sir,' all the time because we want to see how the deputy is handling them," Scott said. "We don't want somebody aggressive going out on the street and getting in a fight. There's some antagonizing going on. We push buttons, we do that from day one."

Test subject Highway Patrolman Scott Cobel said he drank four Jack Daniels and Cokes.

Actually, said Scott, the patrolman had five, with each drink containing about three ounces of booze. In other words, he was inebriated.

Cobel blew a 0.179 blood-alcohol reading in the SD5 breathalyzer.

Cadet Heather Trumbel advised Cobel to take nine steps for the field sobriety test, heel to toe, then turn around and take nine steps back.

Cobel said as a patrolman, he hears drivers often say they know their limit before they take the wheel. But he confessed: He wasn't fit to drive.

"For a million dollars cash I couldn't walk a straight line. You see me. Do I look drunk? There's no way," Cobel said. "My wife would kill me right now if I tried to drive."

Terry Henigan, the wife of Nye County Sheriff's Office Lt. Jack Henigan, remarked it was just getting to be happy hour. Her breath test came up with a 0.20 blood-alcohol level.

"It was definitely a good training deal. I think they know what a drunk person looks like now. They're definitely able to identify if someone is too impaired to drive, without a doubt, because they ran the gamut. We had a person who wasn't drunk, a person who was just below the legal limit of intoxication and we had people who were just absolutely drunk," Scott said.

Drunken subjects were checked for their blood pressure, which isn't normally done during a DUI check, but could be done on those suspected of being on drugs, which may have accelerated their heart rate, Scott said.

"If you feel sick, let us know right away," Assistant Sheriff Rick Marshall advised the volunteers. No one vomited, though Patrolman Cobel, for one, had his head buried in his hands, sitting down waiting for the result of his breathalyzer test.

The cadets learned to ask a set of questions initially: Is the driver epileptic, taking any medication or wearing a medical alert bracelet?

The HGN -- that stands for "horizontal gaze nystagmus" test -- uses a device to check the involuntary jerking of the eye, which happens when a driver is under the influence.

Hulderman was told to keep her arms to her side, keep her head still and look at the light passed in front of her eyes.

The level of intoxication, as reflected in the blood-alcohol level, can depend on a person's body size, metabolism, how much they ate and the type of drink, Scott said.

"The rule of thumb is, if you're going to drink, get a designated driver. Because you just never know. You could be on an empty stomach and your body is craving nutrients, and you just have a beer and your body could be up to 0.08," he said.

That's the legal limit of intoxication in Nevada.

The cadets have finished 13 weeks of training. They have 12 more weeks to go before graduating June 27.