PORTAGE, Ind. — A northern Indiana driver arrested with a blood-alcohol level nearly four times Indiana’s threshold today claimed his innocence with a novel defense, police said.

“Dude, I do this every night; I’m straight up and not drunk,” Zachary R. Duis, 24 Portage, told Indiana State Police officers.

Duis was charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated. He registered a blood-alcohol level of 0.30. In Indiana, a driver is considered drunk with a level at 0.08.

A Porter County sheriff’s deputy stopped Duis in his 1995 Chevrolet S-10 pickup truck at 2:20 a.m. when he was spotted driving erratically on Ind. 149.

State Police Sgt. Ann Wojas said Duis had an open bottle of alcohol in his pickup and failed a sobriety test outside his truck.

In addition, police learned, Duis was wanted on two warrants for resisting law enforcement and furnishing alcohol to a minor.

Duis was taken to Porter County Jail.