Posted on 12/28/2007 7:07:11 PM PST by elkfersupper
More Texas jurisdictions are turning to forced blood draws to convict those suspected of DUI.
Jurisdictions within Texas are expanding programs where police use force to draw blood from motorists accused of driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI). Last week, El Paso announced it had joined Harris and Wilson Counties in a "no refusal" program specifically designed to streamline the blood drawing process.
It works as follows. An accused motorist is arrested and taken downtown. While being videotaped, he will be asked to submit to a breathalyzer test with officers specifically avoiding any mention that blood will be taken by force if the often inaccurate breathalyzer test is refused.
During key holiday weekends, a pre-assigned judge who agreed to wait by the phone will approve search warrants created from pre-written templates -- often within just thirty minutes. With warrant in hand, a nurse whose salary is often paid by Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (MADD) will draw blood while police officers exert the required level of force. In some cases, this use of force can cause permanent damage. Montague, Archer and Clay counties have similar programs except that these departments do away with the nurse and have police officers perform the blood draw themselves, despite a state law banning the practice (view law).
Two of the twelve motorists subjected to the first blood draws in Harris County on Memorial Day weekend this year were later found to have blood alcohol levels below the .08 limit. The program will return on New Year's Eve.
Define "drunks".
You might have just created a new sarc tag! Congrats. :o
Banning automobiles would save lives.
HAHAHA..MADD from PA? At least post MADD from your state!
Here in Western PA, most of the DUI's I have heard directly from cops have been from hunters out spotting. Meaning they were travelling about, oh-, 25 MPH and MINUS!!!
Then everybody over 60 should be removed from the road.
What? You have a problem with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention?
;o)
Apologies AmericaUnited on referring to post 117
This IS about rights, but many fail to realize, they are supporting those that convolute their "right" to drive in whatever condition they so choose.
There is a problem with drunks on our highways, what other proposals are there to keep them off?
My friends are pissier than I am..
See post 148.
You also have a problems with the CDC?
Cause these facts are THEIRS. Not MADD.
Again... Don’t shoot the messenger. MADD is just reporting CDC or NHTSA data.
Why would you even try to argue that sobriety checkpoints don’t reduce DWI? Of course they do. There are at least 3 detailed studies available on-line to prove this. People adapt when the possibility for getting caught increases.
The question shouldn’t be: do they work? It should be, Are they consitutional? Sadly... our current SC says, “yes”.
Maybe take the license of all sober people away for a year. That should do it.
I’ve always felt that checkpoints are un-constitutional.
If it was called “patriot” checkpoints, I may be for them, but not just the name checkpoints.
Can you refuse the needle on religious grounds? Isn’t it Christian Scientist (or some other religion that advocates door-knocking) that is opposed to needles?
:o
So many of these studies are so incredibly flawed and biased as to be WORTHLESS! Just like UN Global Warming studies... when knowledgeable people look at the methods used and look at the raw data they find HOLES THE SIZE OF TRACTOR TRAILERS and that the broad conclusion drawn IS NOT SUPPORTED!
You mean the same CDC that created panic about avian flu and mad cow disease here in the USA?
There, all fixed
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