I live in Southern AZ, and even though I do not drink alcohol, the information below was extremely disturbing to me, because one does not have to actually be under the influence of anything to be suspected and pulled over and FORCED, under threat of losing one's driver's license automatically for one year if you refuse, to submit to a test of the deputy's choosing (sheriff deputy performed blood draw vs. hospital staff drawing blood vs. breathalyser) to determine if, in fact, you are legally intoxicated or even under the influence of alcohol.
Sheriff's deputies are drawing blood on individuals suspected of DUI in the field. EVEN if there is a hospital within a mile and the time it would take to get a suspect there would be less than that which would be necessary for the deputy to draw the blood...The blood is often drawn with the suspect sitting in the back of the deputy's car, or, worse, with the suspect standing up! This is so awful in my opinion, because the law enforcement officer does not have the health and safety of the suspect in mind, as the health professional would. Not to mention, I would not hesitate to put it past a cop, if they were convinced that the person was intoxicated but were unable to prove this with the initial breath test if they did do that first, to somehow taint the sample, which he or she could readily do without anyone observing, as the car provides all of the privacy necessary.
In a medical center, there are constantly people around who would question a medical professional if they were doing something that appeared odd with a blood sample (ie. pouring a contaminant into it, etc...), as well, if they weren't using proper technique when drawing a sample, others would see this and likely intervene. However, while in a car or on the side of the road, the deputy is not monitored while drawing blood and stopped if it is being done improperly.
Recently, a test pilot for the a branch of the armed forces was pulled over during a random DUI checkpoint stop and forced (he refused and apparently, the sheriff deputy simply tased him in the back of the neck and took the blood by force, even though the man had agreed to the breathalyser immediately, that wasn't what the cop had chosen to do) to submit to the blood draw right then and there...He subsequently developed a severe and unrelenting infection at the site of the needle entry and had to undergo five months of treatment for this infective process, as well as relinquishing his full-time job due to repeated illness secondary to the infections. He sued the Pima County Sheriff Department and won $500,000.00 in damages and they were forced to stop the practice of legally tasering people to force them to submit to these blood draws. As I already stated above, now they can "only" threaten you with the loss of your driver's license for one year. How shitty!
Let me know what you think about this or if you have any additional information about the situation. I would love to hear other's opinions!
