Posted on 12/29/2007 7:41:14 PM PST by Eric Blair 2084
Drunken drivers, consider yourself warned: The cops will be out for blood.
Motorists on Fort Worth roads who refuse to take a breath test after being stopped for suspected drunken driving on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day will have their blood drawn to determine whether they are impaired.
"If you refuse to take that blood test, we are going to ask for a warrant from a magistrate and come back and take your blood," said Fort Worth Police Chief Ralph Mendoza. "Basically, we are going to get our evidence one way or the other."
For the first time, Fort Worth police are launching a DWI No Refusal campaign in an effort to keep drunken drivers off the roads during the holiday.
In a news conference Friday morning, Mendoza, along with officials from the Tarrant County district attorney's office, Dalworthington Gardens, and Mothers Against Drunk Driving warned motorists not to get behind the wheel if they have imbibed.
"If you are stopped by a Fort Worth police officer and you are arrested for DWI, we are going to get a sample," said prosecutor Richard Alpert, who specializes in the prosecution of DWI and intoxication manslaughter cases. "We are going to get the evidence we need in court to prove your guilt. There is no way around it."
Defense attorney Abe Factor who routinely defends those arrested for DWI, said he believes that the campaign is little more than a publicity ploy and that the results will be lackluster, partly because the process will take time and many will score below the legal limit of 0.08.
"To me, it's more sizzle than steak," he said. "It's a good for thing for them to have a press conference over, but the numbers are going to be fairly small. If they stop someone who is really intoxicated, they are going to have them videotaped all over the place anyway."
The idea for the no refusal holiday came from senior prosecutor Lloyd Whelchel of the Tarrant County district attorney's office.
Whelchel recently attended a training seminar and reminded officials that authorities in El Paso and Harris County had similar programs in place.
The campaign will run from 8 p.m. Monday to 5 a.m. Tuesday and from 8 p.m. Tuesday to 5 a.m. Wednesday. If a Fort Worth police officer pulls over a suspected drunken driver who refuses a breath test, the officer will seek a search warrant from a magistrate.
The suspect will then be taken to a room at the Fort Worth Police Department, where at least three officers with Dalworthington Gardens Public Safety Department will be on hand to take their blood.
(which will happen after you blow into a rigged breathalyzer.)
That’s scary because I believe it happens because of a corrupt cop. On any given day.....
Imagine the following case. A hemophiliac that has not been drinking is stopped at a checkpoint and told to take a breathalyzer test. After refusal, the officer arrests the driver and takes him to the center for processing. During the process, the driver is cut or starts bleeding from the punctured blood vessel. The driver loses a lot of blood and possibly his life as no police personnel have any idea why he is bleeding so much. Liability, anyone? Lots of liability?
If hillary socialized health care gets in, look for all sorts of mandated checks.
Texas may be wrong on smoking to a degree. I was trying to have a conversation with my bartender and he told me that by law he can’t smoke in the bar.
He had to go outside. I’m not sure if it was a state or local law or just an overbearing boss at the Hotel. I talked to the overbearing boss at the Hotel but she couldn’t clarify.
Like I said, social engineering is tough. The liberals like it until their trial lawyer constituency is let loose on them. What comes around goes around. They will sit around and ask the age old question “Who let the dogs out?”
Nothing new here in Michigan. It’s the law. I assumed it was like that in all the states.
Ma’am we have to have a long talk. You sound like my mother in law. She smokes cigarettes but has a problem with every other vice known to man. Including me leaving my dirty underwear in the bathroom after giving the kids a shower in her bathroom.
The point is you can’t get a little bit pregnant. You are either for Gubmint socially engineering and legislating vices (including yours) away or you are not.
Why am I not surprised? We’re all going to Hell in a handbasket.
I’m not an Ayn Rand devotee but damn if she wasn’t right half a century ago. Atlas Shrugged. Government has no power over law abiding citizens, they only have power over criminals. Just make everything illegal and Gubmint owns you.
Drunk driving, on the other hand, can and does kill a lot of people. I remember several years ago when a drunk behind a wheel killed an entire family on their way to their daughter's graduation in my then hometown.
Now, I'll be the first to admit that I'm not a legal scholar insofar as the Fifth Amendment goes. However, I would hazard a guess that in the majority of cases the cop stopping you is not so corrupt that he'd deliberately rig a breathalyzer test. If you agree to the breathalyzer and it is rigged, you can call a lawyer and have that lawyer have you give a blood sample. You can then have that blood sample independently analyzed and, when the sample comes back indicating that you haven't had a drink since the Truman administration, you can sue the police department for every nickel of their budget. In fact, I'd strongly recommend that you do so.
“...it will mean an automatic 1 year drivers license suspension.”
I may be wrong but I think this is pretty standard. Here in Washington State it is a 6 mo. suspension. It is not a presumption of guilt, but a requirement of being issued a driver’s license that you will submit to a breath test when asked. Driving is a privilege, not a right.
I do not agree with being physically forced to have blood drawn. That could be extremely dangerous (for cop as well as driver).
Huh?
What if the heart attack occurred while driving or flying? Would that not be a potential killer for others?
D D A M M: Drunk Drivers Against Mad Mothers....
Wait until it starts generating a revenue stream and see what Ahnold does.
I would say, yes. Aside from being a violation of the 5th Amendment, considering all the bad bugs that are out there, hepatitis, AIDS, etc., I don't want some high school hall monitor reject with an attitude and a badge touching me with a needle, especially by force. I don't drink, so what happens when they make a mistake, jab me with a dirty needle and I get Hepatitis? Who pays for the treatment, lost wages, etc.?
In Tennessee, if you are suspected of DUI and refuse a Breathalyzer or blood test, you automatically loose your license for 1 year, unless you can prove in court that you were not impaired at the time. I don't know about Texas law regarding this, but loss of license for 1 year seems adequate to me.
I seriously doubt this law will stand up if someone takes it all the way to the SCOTUS.....and probably not the Texas SC....
Or Officials? I'd like to see all of them take a random blood test! Weed out the whole lot of them.!
When did probable cause become a non-issue in this country? I missed the headline that day.
I came here to listen. Hence my questions I posted. If I don’t understand something, I ask :)
And it sounds like your mother in law is a wonderful person. I would come at you too for leaving that dirty underwear around!
/tease
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