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.
Hooray for Texas in doing this. It can only save lives.
Next..... Texas needs to join most other normal states and pass checkpoint sobriety laws.
We are only 1 of 11 states that do not have DWI checkpoints.
No wonder our DWI fatalities are off the charts.
pill-poppers beware.
BTW they don’t even offer breathalyzers here. It’s blood or nothing, your call.
It’s not about DUI any more. It’s DADAAOA — driving after drinking any amount of alcohol.
Now, as I am diabetic, this doesn’t affect me directly, but I regard it as an unwarranted intrusion upon our freedoms. A person should be able to cruise down the street with the top down on a spring day drinking a bottle of beer if he dern well feels like it.
Move to Islamabad before you wreck what is left of America.
Tazer?
Billy club headlock?
Bullet to the forehead?
Make no mistake, you, I, each and everyone of us is seen as property to be used by the state for whatever purpose it chooses.
There’s only one correct response to this and it’s unmentionable on this site and likely to get me banned if I do.
I HATE NEEDLES!
“No wonder our DWI fatalities are off the charts.”
Questions:
Does “DUI fatalities” include only those fatalities *caused* by DUI, or do they include, say, those in which a passenger had a beer?
How many of those accidents are caused by illegal aliens?
Oh, it’s self-defense alright and forcible attainment of bodily fluids will result in people getting killed. (maybe they can draw the fluid from the bullet holes)
Sticking everyone butt naked in rubber rooms will save lives as well.
Checkpoints are flat wrong. They are a police intrusion into our lives with no PC.
Forced blood draws for DUI is overkill, in my opinion. Having policemen do it is stupid. They are adding liability exposure for medical problems to their other liability exposure.
It’s always so fun to engage you in a rational discussion of the evils of drinking and driving.
You always post like a drunken moron making my posts seem all the more brilliant.
Now tell me again how driving while drunk is a GOOD thing???
You haven’t thought through your cunning plans far enough. But that’s okay serf, after your first half dozen sobriety checkpoints, I suspect you’ll figure out real quick just how much you have given up in the guise of “saving lives”.
I do have one thing to say. ANY officer the least bit involved in a DUI to include dispatch must also submit a BAC draw within the hour of any arrest. Use the DUI money to pay for it.
Then so be it.
How does your diabetes affect the issue?
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