In an effort to deter DUI suspects from refusing to take a State chemical test, more and more States are allowing police officers to draw the suspect’s blood. Officers cannot hold a suspect down and force them to blow into the breath test machine, but now in several states those officers can forcefully take blood.
In 1966 the US Supreme Court ruled that police could have blood tests forcibly done on a DUI suspect without a warrant, as long as the draw was based on reasonable suspicion that the suspect was intoxicated, that it was done after arrest, and had to be carried out in a medically approved manner.
Now instead of taking the suspect to a hospital, some States such as Arizona and Idaho are training “officer phlebotomists” to draw blood. Can you imagine having a police officer drawing your blood on the hood of his car?
Of course I can see all sorts of problems with officer’s drawing blood instead of trained qualified nurses; what happens if something happens and the suspect is hurt? Can you spell “malpractice”?Issues of proper storage and proper testing are also concerns. I don’t know, maybe it’s just me, but I think police should arrest, nurses should draw blood, lab techs should analyze, defense lawyers defend, and judges rule on the legal issues.

Tags: DUI, Police blood drawer, US Supreme Court

This entry was posted on Friday, January 15th, 2010 at 12:04 pm and is filed under DUIs in the News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.