Cannon Law Office

The recent article in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle proposing to allow police officers at traffic stops to use a syringe to draw blood from a suspected drunk driver should be placed in the category of "worst ideas EVER".
While drunk drivers are a menace and a hazard, there is no reason, at least in New York state, to authorize police officers to perform what is essentially a medical procedure. I don't care how much training officers might get, the prospect of cops taking blood samples at the side of the road is a horrible idea under any measure of common sense. Aside from the hazard of injury to the motorist by an ill-performed procedure, which could include transmission of AIDS or HIV, the risks alone to the officer drawing the blood outweigh any perceived advantage to the prosecutors or the public. If you were the police, would you want to take blood from a potentially intoxicated and/or potentially violent individual in the confines of the back seat of a police car?

In New York, police authorities may take a person suspected of drunk driving to appropriate medical professionals who can draw the blood under proper conditions. The law also provides for the blood to be drawn under authority of the court in certain situations. The law also allows police to arrest individuals for drunk driving without proof of the individuals blood alcohol content. Why put the health of police officers and motorists at risk when there is no reason to do so?
As a lawyer having represented many, many people injured in accidents caused by drunk drivers and the families of those killed by drunk drivers, I can tell you that I can't think of a single instance when I have been prosecuting a personal injury case against a drunk driver where a difference would have been made in the case of the cop on the scene drew blood. Such a procedure isn't needed in New York and is not worth the risks to all invovled.

Labels: accident driver drunk injury killed lawyer risk