Police Can Order Blood Drawn From Unconscious DUI Suspects
Date Posted to Site: 06/27/2019
The Supreme Court has ruled that police may, without a warrant,
order blood drawn from an unconscious person suspected of driving under the
influence of alcohol.
The Fourth Amendment generally
requires police to obtain a warrant for a blood draw. However in a 5-4 vote on the court ruled that police may, without a warrant,
order blood drawn from an unconscious person suspected of driving under the
influence of alcohol,
upholding a Wisconsin law that
says people driving on a public road have impliedly consented to having their
blood drawn if police suspect them of driving under the influence. It also said
that "exigent circumstances" permit police to obtain a blood sample
without a warrant. Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, Stephen Breyer and
Brett Kavanaugh joined Chief Justice John Roberts in the majority vote. The
decision conflicts with previous court rulings in which the
justices ruled that a blood draw is a significant bodily intrusion into a
person's privacy and that there are less intrusive ways of enforcing drunk
driving laws against unconscious motorists — getting a warrant, for instance,
which in these tech-savvy days can be done relatively easily and quickly.
Twenty-eight states have laws similar to Wisconsin's.
The original case is Mitchell v Wisconsin.
Information shown has
been excerpted from https://www.npr.org/2019/06/27/732852170/supreme-court-affirms-police-can-draw-blood-from-unconscious-drivers
