Replies

Joe and Leaning. It appears the cop may have been acting outside his authority in this case. The federal law states it's the employer's responsibility to have the driver tested within 2 hours (alcohol) or 32 hours (controlled substance) of a fatal accident, regardless of fault. It says nothing about the police collecting the sample.

It also states that after 2 or 32 hours, all attempts to obtain the sample must cease, and a letter must be submitted as to why the sample was not collected and the test performed. The law states that the driver must make himself available for the test for these periods of time after the crash, but also states the driver may seek medical attention when necessary if the crash results in injury to the CDL driver.

https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CFR-2016-title49-vol5/xml/CFR-2016-title49-vol5-part382.xml#seqnum382.103

Section 382.303.