Texas Police Expanding Forced Blood Draws
Texas…one of the states that currently permits officers to perform forced blood draws in DUI refusal cases…has become even more aggressive with respect to its alleged DUI offenders.
The state used to permit officers to perform warrantless DUI blood draws when someone was seriously injured by the suspected DUI driver. Now police are authorized to perform these warrantless DUI blood draws when there is a DUI chemical test refusal and in any of the following cases:
- Someone was injured severely enough that they required immediate medical attention
- There was a child in the car
- It was the suspect’s third DUI.
This is just another example of how this nation is becoming more of a police-state with respect to driving under the influence. It’s one thing to toughen the laws for convicted repeat offenders (a policy that I’m not advocating, by the way), but to toughen the laws with respect to those who have only allegedly violated the law is inexcusable.
It’s hard to believe that we still live in a society where we are presumed innocent until proven guilty when California and a host of other states continue to give the police more authority at our expense. The fact that more states are taking away one’s right to refuse to submit to a DUI chemical test is absurd.
Those who refuse to submit to DUI chemical testing do so knowing that they will lose their driving privilege for at least one-year and will serve a minimum county jail sentence. The fact that this freedom of choice is being taken away simply serves as further evidence that DUI suspects are afforded less protection than other suspected criminals…and, as a result, are even more in need of skilled legal representation. But hey, let’s look on the bright side…at least suspected drunk drivers are still allowed to have legal representation. If MADD has its way, it won’t be long before police can bypass the arrest and simply convict those whom they stop for DUI.
