{"id":15516,"date":"2025-08-18T18:00:04","date_gmt":"2025-08-18T22:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.carolinaattorneys.com\/blog\/?p=15516"},"modified":"2025-08-17T17:30:40","modified_gmt":"2025-08-17T21:30:40","slug":"breathalyzer-north-carolina-dwi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.carolinaattorneys.com\/blog\/breathalyzer-north-carolina-dwi\/","title":{"rendered":"Breathalyzer in North Carolina: AlcoSensor FST Explained"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In North Carolina, some people refer to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.carolinaattorneys.com\/blog\/breath-alcohol-content-screening-bac-in-north-carolina\/\" target=\"_blank\">Alco Sensor FST<\/a> as the \u201cbreathalyzer\u201d or \u201cPBT\u201d (portable breath test). It is is a handheld breath alcohol screening device used by law <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-15524 lazyload\" src=\"\/jshared\/img\/icons\/spinner.svg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.carolinaattorneys.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Breathalyzer-PBT-DUI-cases-in-North-Carolina-300x300.webp\" alt=\"North Carolina police officer conducts roadside sobriety test before breathalyzer PBT in DWI investigation\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.carolinaattorneys.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Breathalyzer-PBT-DUI-cases-in-North-Carolina-300x300.webp 300w, https:\/\/www.carolinaattorneys.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Breathalyzer-PBT-DUI-cases-in-North-Carolina-150x150.webp 150w, https:\/\/www.carolinaattorneys.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Breathalyzer-PBT-DUI-cases-in-North-Carolina-768x768.webp 768w, https:\/\/www.carolinaattorneys.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Breathalyzer-PBT-DUI-cases-in-North-Carolina-1000x1000.webp 1000w, https:\/\/www.carolinaattorneys.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Breathalyzer-PBT-DUI-cases-in-North-Carolina-120x120.webp 120w, https:\/\/www.carolinaattorneys.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Breathalyzer-PBT-DUI-cases-in-North-Carolina.webp 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/> enforcement on scene to confirm the consumption of alcohol.\u00a0 If you&#8217;ve been charged with driving while impaired, it&#8217;s a legitimate question to ask: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.carolinaattorneys.com\/blog\/is-breathalyzer-on-the-side-of-the-road-reliable\/\" target=\"_blank\">Is the breathalyzer on the side of the road reliable?<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Both the Alco Sensor FST and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.carolinaattorneys.com\/blog\/evidentiary-breath-tests-in-north-carolina-understanding-the-intoximeter-ec-ir-ii\/\" target=\"_blank\">EC\/IR II<\/a> (products of the Intoximeters corporation) detect the presence of ethyl alcohol (ethanol) in breath using an electrochemical fuel cell. Under <a href=\"https:\/\/ncleg.net\/EnactedLegislation\/Statutes\/HTML\/BySection\/Chapter_20\/GS_20-16.3.html\" target=\"_blank\">N.C.G.S. 20-16.3<\/a>, the Alco Sensor FST is approved for roadside screening. A positive or negative indication for alcohol may be considered when determining whether there is probable cause to arrest.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The numerical result of the AlcoSensor FST is generally not admissible to prove a violation of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.carolinaattorneys.com\/north-carolina-general-statute-20-138-1-impaired-driving.html\" target=\"_blank\">N.C.G.S. 20-138.1<\/a>. A numeric portable breath test value may appear in limited administrative proceedings, but it is generally not used to establish the elements of the\u00a0<em>prima facie\u00a0<\/em>elements of the criminal offense of driving while impaired in North Carolina.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"read_more_link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.carolinaattorneys.com\/blog\/breathalyzer-north-carolina-dwi\/\"  title=\"Continue Reading Breathalyzer in North Carolina: AlcoSensor FST Explained\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In North Carolina, some people refer to the Alco Sensor FST as the \u201cbreathalyzer\u201d or \u201cPBT\u201d (portable breath test). It is is a handheld breath alcohol screening device used by law enforcement on scene to confirm the consumption of alcohol.\u00a0 If you&#8217;ve been charged with driving while impaired, it&#8217;s a legitimate question to ask: Is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15523,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,1],"tags":[2172,2180,2179,2187,2173,2183,411,2175,2181,2185,2158,2177,2176,437,2184,2174,1437,2182,2186,2178],"class_list":["post-15516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dwi","category-uncategorized","tag-alcosensor-fst","tag-brac-vs-bac","tag-breath-alcohol-concentration","tag-breath-test-admissibility-north-carolina","tag-breathalyzer-north-carolina","tag-carry-over-effect-breath-test","tag-dwi-probable-cause","tag-ec-ir-ii-breath-test","tag-fuel-cell-breath-test","tag-intoximeters-ec-ir-ii","tag-n-c-g-s-20-138-1","tag-n-c-g-s-20-138-3","tag-n-c-g-s-20-16-3","tag-north-carolina-dwi-law","tag-north-carolina-impaired-driving-defense","tag-pbt-roadside-test","tag-portable-breath-test","tag-residual-mouth-alcohol","tag-roadside-screening-device","tag-underage-after-consuming-law"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Breathalyzer in North Carolina: AlcoSensor FST Explained<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Breathalyzer in North Carolina DWI cases explained. How roadside PBTs work, admissibility, and why BAC proof requires evidentiary testing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.carolinaattorneys.com\/blog\/breathalyzer-north-carolina-dwi\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Breathalyzer in North Carolina: AlcoSensor FST Explained\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Breathalyzer in North Carolina DWI cases explained. 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