Man attempted to light hearing aid instead of cigarette

It was at around 8:50 p.m. on Tuesday when David Wagner tried to light his hearing aid with a lighter, apparently mistaking it for a cigarette. Wagner, 53, was behind the wheel of a Saturn in the Jensen Beach area after a Martin County Sheriff's Office deputy smelled alcohol and called another deputy to complete a DUI investigation. As that deputy approached, Wagner was in the driver's seat.

"He was trying to light one of his hearing aids with a lighter," an affidavit states. "I noticed that there was another hearing aid in his lap." Wagner said he was trying to light a cigarette. "I told him that he was trying to light his hearing aid, he then stopped." Noting a "strong odour" of alcohol, the deputy asked Wagner whether he'd been imbibing and he said he had.



Wagner said he'd had "Way too much, about a half a bottle of Jagermeister." Jagermeister, which originated in Germany and has a logo of a stag with a cross between its horns, is a popular herbal liqueur that tastes somewhat like medicine and is 70 proof. Wagner said he went to get a chocolate milkshake for his wife, whose bottom teeth were removed earlier in the day. "He said he tried to get the milkshake, but couldn't get out of the park, Ocean Breeze Park, and returned home."

Wagner wore a brace and said he had a broken foot. He nearly fell as he stood. "I asked him if his swaying was due to his foot or his intoxication. He said both." A breath test showed Wagner's blood alcohol content was greater than three times the legal limit. Wagner, of Northeast First Avenue in Jensen Beach, was arrested on a DUI charge.

With copies of the arrest report.