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Cops and district attorneys have agreed on a new protocol allowing police to more quickly obtain warrants to draw blood from drivers who refuse to take breathalyzer tests. The new process should let police draw blood from suspected drunk drivers at least two hours faster than the current average of seven hours, the New York Times reports.
Under current rules, cops can only apply for a warrant to draw blood after a suspected drunk driver has refused a breath test in the field, and a second breath test in the stationhouse. The new agreement will let officers request a warrant as soon as a driver refuses to take a breath test the first time. Officers and district attorneys have not yet determined whether blood can be drawn at precincts and other locations instead of hospitals, and whether the job will be done by doctors working for police, first responders, or other parties.
The push for faster blood testing comes after two fatal accidents in which NYPD officers refused to take breathalyzers and didn't take blood tests for hours. In the case of officer Andrew Kelly — who reportedly reeked of alcohol and slurred his speech immediately after hitting and killing a woman in Brooklyn in September — it took police seven hours to obtain a warrant for a blood test. By the time Kelly took the test, he had no alcohol in his system. Meanwhile, a blood test taken more than five hours after detective Kevin Spellman struck a Bronx woman last month revealed that his blood alcohol level was still well above the legal limit at 0.21.
A lawyer who has represented several people arrested for drunk driving told the Times that the new process won't necessarily save much time. “Generally, they take you right to the precinct for the second test, and that is not that long after the person is arrested,” said attorney Howard Weiner. “In many states you don’t need a court order to take the blood. That would save a lot of time.”
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Does this apply to cops who drive drunk as well?
You really don't already know the answer?
Well, just because they can request a warrant after the first refusal doesn't mean that they have to. And even if they do, there's plenty of room for foot dragging is cops making an arrest want to give anybody extra time. For whatever reason.
Somehow I knew the first comment would be on cops. Cops never seem to get the same treatment as non-cops at any DWI incident. If the cop who kills people in a DWI can't be proven to have been impaired at the time of the accident, then it gets treated as any other accident and there is no criminal liability for the deaths. No accountability.
Violation of rights on the express track. Way to be!
What possible reason can exist for refusing a breathalizer test? It only measure's a person's level of intoxication. How can there be any legal grounds for refusing it?
If it's not illegal to request a driver's license, which doesn't have any bearing on a person's ability to drive (he left it in his other pants), why is testing a person's level of intoxication considered a problem?
@twelvicat
What possible reason exists for refusing a breathalizer? Many, to start with the breathlizer does not directly measure blood alcohlo. Because it does not directly measure BAC directly there are medical conditions that can yield false positives. The machines are all junk. Bad software design and execution. Bad mechanical design. One model from Drager has an exaust vent place where the administering officer would want to place his hand. Covering the port will produce a false positive.
If you are stopped in a jursiticion that allows you to request a blood test by all means do.
All true, additionally I have read and been told by lawyers asking when the breathalizer was last calibrated can be important. I hate to give drunks a way to get out of being caught, but with quotas and corrupt cops making shit up all the time the sad truth is you can't trust the test or the system.