Powers said of her piece, which had the headline He Gave Me a Breathalyser Test That I Couldn't Refuse: "There's a lot of noise but it's hit a chord. I write a number of things where people have some heated reactions."
Powers, who describes herself as a healthcare strategist, political commentator and "Solution Seeker", defended comparing what happened to Ms Bland with her own experience, which she said was an example of law enforcement going too far because there was no reason to suspect she was drink-driving.
"It absolutely was a valid comparison. I live about 115 miles from where the incident with Sandra Bland happened. I watched the video and as a woman I watched the video... I watched that and I thought back to this incident in New Zealand and I felt this is so identical," she said. "My thought was I'm going to write this article saying it doesn't just happened in America."
'It's ridiculous'
Ms Bland's situation was a racial issue, which was not the case with Powers, but both incidents highlighted "concerns about the over-extension of law enforcement".
"We've lost track of what general civil liberties should be about."
In Timaru, Powers said she complied with the police officer as she didn't know the what the rules were. Her breath test came back clean.
"I thought it was ridiculous. I thought it was totally pointless. I said that to the officer. He said, 'I know it's ridiculous but we have to do it anyway,' I said, 'I guess it's not discriminatory if you presume everybody's guilty'."
Power's piece had attracted about 2800 likes on Facebook and topped the Huffington Post's crime section. It wasn't, however, the post she'd received the most feedback on - that happened when she wrote about Malaysia.
She spent about eight nights in New Zealand and said the rest of her experience was amazing.
Powers said in her piece that New Zealand had a problem with police abusing civil rights.
"Now this test would have been warranted if I had, say, rammed into a sheep when it wandered into the road, and a cop had found me slumped over the wheel of my car with my speech slurred, my eyes bloodshot and a pile of empty beer bottles in the front seat," she wrote.
"I was pulled over after an officer clocked me for driving too fast through a speed trap in the center of Timaru. My car was littered with empty water bottles and crinkled up road maps, evidence of a long road trip, not intoxication. My two children were in the back seat of the car, holding guidebooks and more maps."
Backlash
Her post has disgusted American Huffington Post users as well as New Zealanders on social media here.
"Do every other country a favor and don't travel," one person advised Ms Powers.
"The fact that you came to our country, blatantly disrespected our law by exceeding the speed limit (not to mention speeding with your children in the car, putting them at risk, what a fine example of a human being and great mother you are), and then ran back home ignoring the fine you received for breaking the law, leaves me absolutely fuming," Ashley Williams wrote.
Others tweeted:
On her blog, Ms Powers says she "seeks to spark discussion by presenting them in a fresh and provocative way".
She tweeted that her post "goes to 11".
She admitted her original account of being breathalyzed only got "decent" traffic.
"I was a little disappointed that I hadn't put it out there for the world to read. Perhaps, if it had been on the HuffPo, it would have had a broader audience.
"And then the Sandra Bland incident happened. Less than a week after the 4th of July, right after I posted my story, the violation of a woman's civil rights came into question when she was pulled over for a traffic violation. An awful outcome. My story about the breathalyzer incident in New Zealand is different, but the issue at hand is the same. So I re-wrote my story and...posted it to the HuffPo. Check out the newly revised 'He Gave Me a Breathalyzer Test that I Couldn't Refuse', which is now on The Huffington Post in the Crime section."
She boasted that her piece meant she had appeared in 11 sections of the Huffington Post.
The New Zealand Transport Agency said a compulsory impairment test could be carried out for various reasons.
"This could be because of your erratic driving, or if you have been stopped for another reason and appear to be under the influence of drugs."
A person could choose not to take a breath screening or evidential breath test but if refusing such tests, must then undergo a blood test.
Ms Powers admitted she rewrote her account of the breathalyser test to take in Ms Bland's death and was disappointed with the number of readers the original piece had.
New Zealand road policing operations manager Inspector Peter McKennie said overseas drivers in New Zealand were subject to local laws like all other drivers.
He said alcohol was a factor in 30 per cent of fatal crashes in New Zealand and police were "very committed to preventing the harm and trauma associated with alcohol on our roads".
Mr McKennie said this approach had wide public support.
"Furthermore we strongly advise overseas drivers to pay any infringements or fines they have incurred while visiting, as failure to do so could impact on their future ability to return to New Zealand," Mr McKennie added.
