Jumper Bloom
Magician: Lighter Fluid to Blame
Magician
drunken-driving defendant
swears
he wasn’t drinking firewater.
But he did eat fire.
says he had just taught a fire-
eating class in Hollywoodwhen he was pulled
over by police in 1999 for driving
without his headlights on
and going 55 mph
in a 35 mph zone.Police said he
was not carrying a license,
his eyes were bloodshot,
he could not standthere was “an odor of an unknown alcoholic beverage.”
A breath test measured his blood alcohol
at twice the legal limit.
But the 32-year-old magician will
argue at his April 12 trial
that it wasn’t liquor that was detected; it
was three types of lighter fluid.
The defense has worked before.
from THE ASSOCIATED PRESS