- If you have a prior conviction for DUI and you are stopped and the officer has probable cause to believe that you are DUI then a BLOOD TEST will be taken from you. OR
- Even if you have no prior DUI (or any other charge for that matter) and the officer has probable cause to believe you are DUI and you have a child under age 16 in the vehicle with you then a BLOOD TEST will be taken from you.
I realize that DUI is a horrible crime that destroys lives. But I also am well aware that thousands of citizens are wrongfully accused of DUI each year. When did we stop living in a free society? Under this new law a blood test will be taken from you even over your objection. You can literally be strapped down to a hospital bed and have your blood forcibly removed from your body. This is done without any type of search warrant or independent judicial review. Its all left to the opinion of the officer making the arrest.
A person who made one bad mistake when they were 22 and got a DUI can now be stopped and suspected of DUI when they are 52 and have no option to refuse a blood test.
Even better, take a person, with no criminal record what so ever, who wants to take their 15 year old son to pizza hut after his big soccer game where the son scored the winning goal. At dinner you have one beer and as you leave your spouse tells you to drive because they are having a headache. On the way home you drop your watch and swerve your car a bit while picking up your watch from the floorboard. An officer stops you, smells your breath, and concluded that you are probably DUI based upon his observations. Under the new law you will be FORCED to go to the hospital and have your arm stabbed with a needle and your blood drawn for analysis.
Im sure that some will say that the cops are never wrong in their opinions of who is and is not DUI. There is no sort of reasoning or argument that can persuade those of this limited mentality so I won't waste our time addressing it. However, there will be those that believe that a blood test will only exonerate the innocent so this law is a good thing. We must remember that these so called blood tests are not infallible. There are a million things that can cause a blood test to have inaccurate readings. Please see my other blog posts on this topic.
There will always be overzealous cops who charge the innocent and there will always be screwed up lab results. What concerns me more than both of those is the loss of freedom associated with this law. The inability to not be able to say - no, you cannot force my blood from its veins. Prior to this law you could refuse and lose your license and possibly face other penalties. But under this new law there is no option - you will have your blood drawn from your veins.
Is this the way to really combat DUI? or is it merely the knee jerk reaction from legislators to interest groups such as MADD and Federal DUI grants? Shouldn't we be educating our officers on how to detect DUI's or provide more DUI enforcement officers? Should we try to educate the DUI offender as to the seriousness of his actions BEFORE they get behind the wheel? Is whittling away at our freedoms and forcing blood out of our veins the best answer to our problems? Those who remain still will never feel the chains that bind them...
Thoughts??
So what happens if you get pulled over by a " cocky" young cop, and he doesnt like you, and he just says that he smells beer. Once im taken to a hospital and blood drawn, then what, whats the recourse? I guess some of us young successful people ( who may not be liked in pigeon forge) had better hope someone doesnt get a hair up their ass and pull me over. Who enacted these laws? Is this a TN law or what?
ReplyDeleteThis is a Tennessee Law. Remember that the new law forces blood draws on anyone with a prior DUI or that has a child under 16 in the car. The police can also force a blood sample if there is an accident involving injury. (Note the absence of "serious" injury. It only has to be an "injury" which could be very minor). The forced blood draw is only available to police in those situations (for now). One of the scariest parts of this new law is like you mentioned - it is completely dependent on the officers opinion. There is no independent judicial review nor subpoena prior to forcing the blood draw. Very scary stuff indeed. The legislators make these laws and I suspect that it is difficult for a legislator to not "support" pretty much any new DUI law that is presented to them for fear of looking weak on DUI's. (and thus not being reelected)
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