Ve haf vays to get evidence!
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.
Nazi Phlebotomist's?
No, because being arrested is a whole lot different than being convicted (which will happen after you blow into a rigged breathalyzer.)
Yep .
People love to give up their rights when you can find a demon to assign that right to.
Ask any smoker.
I do find it fascinating and a credit to the founders intent of state's rights that a place like Texas which is where I should be living (I live there for a week a year while watching the Cowboys on my annual trip) has no problem with guns or smoking but go after drunk drivers like Carrie Nation.
Meanwhile, liberal San Francisco will reserve the death penalty which they find to be cruel for if used against murderers for gun owners and smokers. It's for the chilruns after all. Meanwhile, public anal sex is a misdemeanor. Go figure.
I don't know the answer. I'm just so pissed off that Gubmint won't leave people alone that I have taken their scorched Earth theory and reversed it.
Hmm. I smoke cigars. I am neither fat, drunken nor a slob. Profiling?
Ve haf vays to get evidence!
I vant to see yar paapers please.
“What happens if you are stone cold sober? Do you have any recourse?”
Last year I was arrested for DUI. I had not had anything to drink. I failed the field sobriety test, according to the asshole cops. They towed my car. They arrested me. At the police station they finally got around to having me blow into their fancy breathalizer. The asshole cops were shocked - I blew .000. This was a Friday night...about 2:30 Saturday morning, actually. They told me I could not get my car back until Monday, and talked about towing/storage charges. I demanded it back, got it Saturday morning, and paid no charges. I should have sued their sorry asses. Before I left the station, they got all apologetic, because they knew I might just do that.
I seem to have read that alcohol is leached from your blood in a relatively short time. Are they going to keep magistrates up night and day? After the warrant is issued, and you make yourself scarce for an appropriate time, where will be the evidence? 
You should have sued.
The assholes.
You will be detained in the mean time.
Maybe. Maybe not.
What is certain is the coercive power of the State.
You couldn’t say the alphabet backwords?
Backwards
Okay Hitler. I'll give you a stool sample.
There would be reasonable suspicion that the driver was runk, cuff them and stuff them and down to the jail they go, refusal to take the breathalyzer should be treated with the mirror image punishment as actually “failing” a breathalyzer.
No need to go for blood from an unwilling person, that just strikes me as too much power for the State to have for a misdeminor...
Now “what if” DWI was treated the same way that waving a loaded firearm around is? DWI’s kill more people, a car is far more deadly then a mere bullet...
I believe that in the state of Missouri, you do have the right to refuse a BAC breath test when pulled over, however it will mean an automatic 1 year drivers license suspension. Even if you haven’t been drinking. It’s a case of presumed guilty until proven innocent.
Mark
To me, it appears the police state is getting as oppressive as the overbearing sherriff in a bad western, like "The Quick and the Dead".
You got Tx wrong on smoking. They are as bad here as anywhere.
The Castle law forced my employer to allow me to have a loaded gun in my car at work, but I can be fired for having a pack of cigarettes in it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.