14 DAY TRIAL // Apparently, it's not just cocktails, beer and wine that can get people in trouble with the law. On the contrary, something as innocent-sounding as vanilla extract can too put people behind bars, especially when drank and not used to make cupcakes or other treats.
A woman in the US learned this the hard way this past weekend, when she decided to go for a drive after gulping down one too many sips of vanilla extract and ended up being taken into police custody on the grounds that she was too drunk to be anywhere near a steering wheel.
How the incident played out
The police officers who handled the case say that, on Saturday, they could not help but notice a car being driven round and round in a Walmart parking lot in the town of Macedon in New York. The officers realized that something was off and decided to further investigate the matter.
Thus, they had 46-year-old Carolyn Kesel pull the vehicle over, and asked her why it was that she was aimlessly driving around a parking lot. Hoping to get away with being drunk behind the wheel, the woman tried to convince the officers that she had simply lost her way home.
Unfortunately for her, the police officers realized that she had been drinking. In fact, word has it that, when subjected to a breathalyzer test, the 46-year-old was found to have a blood alcohol level some three times over the legal limit. Consequently, she was taken into custody.
The woman got drunk on vanilla extract
The police officers who arrested 46-year-old Carolyn Kesel say that, rather than gulping down beers, wine or an endless string of Bloody Mary's, the woman had gotten drunk on vanilla extract, which is usually used to add some flavor to baked treats.
More precisely, word has it that, hoping to chase away boredom and spice up her life, she had consumed vanilla extract whose alcohol content was one of 41%, Metro reports. Hence the fact that, when the officers found her, she was having serious trouble making it out of the Walmart parking lot.
Not to play Captain Obvious or anything of the sorts, but it must be said that getting drunk on vanilla extract is something nobody should ever try to do. This is because vanilla extract contains just the right amount of alcohol to cause people alcohol poisoning, a condition that can prove fatal.
