Man who said he was sleepwalking cleared of DUI charges

GOTHENBURG, Sweden, Oct. 4 (UPI) -- A Swedish man accused of drunken driving was cleared by an appeals court after arguing he had been in the midst of a sleepwalking episode.

The Gothenburg appeals court ruled in favor of throwing out the charges against the man, who was stopped near his home while driving his truck. He told police he had been sleepwalking until he was stopped, The Local.se reported Friday.

The man was arrested on a charge of aggravated drunken driving when his blood alcohol content was found to be well over the legal limit and faced up to two years in jail.

However, the court overturned the district court's guilty ruling after hearing from the man. His brother and girlfriend also testified that he is prone to sleepwalking episodes.

"It can of course be questioned whether it is even possible to be asleep while driving a truck in the circumstances which he claims to have done," the court said in the ruling, which concluded the man's claims were not outside of a reasonable doubt.