Trib Live News – by Jeremy Boren
State troopers will use blood, not breath, to determine whether drivers are under the influence of alcohol, because the state Superior Court is scrutinizing a county judge’s ruling that questions the accuracy of breath tests.
The change means state police will have to wait weeks for laboratory results, but the method is expected to spike the number of DUI-related drug charges because toxicology tests can determine whether blood samples contain illegal drugs in addition to alcohol.
“The breath test is for alcohol only,” said Trooper Adam Reed, a state police spokesman. “Blood tests can come back and say there is marijuana in that person’s system, or bath salts, cocaine, prescription drugs and other things that are also impairing that person’s ability to drive.”
Dauphin County Judge Lawrence F. Clark Jr. ruled last month that breath tests aren’t accurate at levels of intoxication beyond 0.15 percent, which typically result in harsher punishments for suspects convicted of drunken driving. The legal limit in Pennsylvania is 0.08. Clark’s ruling affects cases only in Dauphin County. District Attorney Ed Marsico has filed an appeal to overturn it, but if the state Superior Court upholds the ruling, it could hurt drunken-driving prosecutions statewide.
Reed said state police instituted the temporary suspension on using breath tests this month as a precaution.
In 2011, state police made 51,716 arrests for driving under the influence, a slight drop from 52,495 arrests in 2010. Those arrested were overwhelmingly men (76 percent); white (85 percent); and 25 or older (73 percent), according to state police statistics.
Pittsburgh and Philadelphia police officials said they have no plans to stop using breath tests.
“We have consulted with the district attorney’s office and continue to use the Breathalyzer as our primary means of testing in DUI related cases,” Pittsburgh police Deputy Chief Paul Donaldson said in a statement. “The arresting officer has the option, by statute, to choose whether a Breathalyzer or a blood draw will be conducted.”
Cathy Tress, director of the western office of the Pennsylvania DUI Association, said suspects routinely challenge drunken-driving arrests in court.
The difference this time is that a judge ruled in favor of a defense attorney’s argument that the results produced by the Intoxilyzer 5000EN were not scientifically reliable because the device is not calibrated in the field to interpret results higher than 0.15 percent or lower than 0.05 percent.
State police use the same Intoxilyzer machine, which requires suspects to blow into a tube. The machine uses infrared light to analyze the alcohol content.
Tress said the checkpoint task forces her organization works with have phlebotomists on site to draw blood from suspected drunken drivers. Those who refuse can lose their driver’s licenses for a year. She’s not worried that the court dispute will affect the ability of task forces to catch drunken drivers at checkpoints.
“Our No. 1 one goal is to remove impaired drivers from the roadway,” she said.
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Jeremy Boren is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 412-320-7935 or jboren@tribweb.com.
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…no it isn’t…their number one goal is to expand the effin’ police state…and they use the DUI ruse to leverage their way around the Constitution…they should all be impeached, fired, charged with treason…and when convicted …all law enforcement and legislative / judicial people who support this crap should be hung….
Regards,
RJ O’Guillory
Author-
Webster Groves-The Life of an Insane Family
So they are going to hire some phlebotomist to draw blood from someone that may or may not be intoxicated? I hope that they also draw blood from the cops everyday to make sure they are not useing illegal substances or have been drinking!! If they can afford to hire a phlebotomist to check people then they can surely check the cops – each and every cop – every day for substance abuse then. HOW ABOUT IT FELLAS!!!
i can go for that!! of course you KNOW that wouldn’t last long! my only concern is the 4th amendment aspect of physically taking your DNA, (w/o judge signed specific warrant for seizure, also SPECIFYING ‘WHAT’ is to be searched for!) breath says drinking, drunk; blood says whatever they want it to say WITHOUT ANY tangible, physical evidence/product! You know, there is a such thing as a RONG result or false positive. this is EQUINE EXCREMENT!! i mean as for breath, you do that all day, in and out… but you don’t walk around dripping blood all over the place! and if you’re one of those white guys, sorry, i meant conservatives, dangit, i mean terrorist, then they can just file away your sample and spill it, conveniently, somewhere down the road, guilty-ing you in a more gooder crime! i don’t think the most liberal, communist, democrat judge can ‘justify’ a favorable ruling here. WAKE UP PENN, YOU CAN’T ALLOW THIS! RAISE ENOUGH HELL and THIS will go away. we’ll be watching! RESIST!
You have made the classical mistake. Though the taking of blood is an unreasonable seizure of your most private property, the action in forcibly taking the blood is the most apparent violation.
The 5th Article of our Bill of Rights guarantees that we cannot be forced to give evidence against ourselves. Driving under the influence is a felony. The taking of the blood is a forced confession and if we establish any criteria wherein a government official can forcibly place a needle in our body, would it matter whether it is for the purpose of taking something out or putting something in?
Not to mention that there are some religions out there that would propibit that from being done. I forget what ones they are but I remember hearing about a religion that is against peirced ears and other body peircings and I would think that useing a needle to draw blood would violate their religion.
Gee…so now they want our blood… I mean DNA in order to put in on file with the government. As if they don’t have enough on us. Now they need to take our DNA? NOOO!!!……That’s where I draw the line. I don’t give out my DNA to these scumbags. If my breath doesn’t work, then obviously I am fine. However, these bastards don’t want to pull you over for nothing, so they want to make sure they can get you with something that doesn’t even exist. So they grab your blood, modify it a little, and gain more control over you and create another problem that exists only in the cops delusional mind. What a wonderful world we live in.
Also, are the cops even licensed or have a doctor’s permit to poke a needle in you? Isn’t that considered intentionally harming an innocent person with a needle? How is that any different than poking someone with a knife? And if you don’t do it, are you resisting a policeman? What gives them the right to poke a hole in you? How is that serving and protect and innocent until proven guilty? More like the opposite as always. And then what about the hygiene of it all? Do they clean and change the needle or use the same one? And how do we know? And will this lead to more genetically modified diseases? Is this how vaccines are going to get induced in the future or is this how cops are going to check to make sure you are healthy in the future? And what do they do with my blood? Sell it? This opens a whole new can of Big Brother control worms and must not be tolerated.
all very good/valid points! i swear, i didn’t read yours before i posted mine. sorry, wasn’t trying to copy or repeat you but take comfort knowing you ain’t the only one that feels that way!
PA citizens may want to take some lessons from this guy:
Now I really don’t like those terrorists who died to destroy our freedom on 9/11,although most of them are still alive.I think one is a soda jerk in Timbuktu or something like that.Anyway I’m glad we decimated Iraq because they don’t love Jesus and I know he would approve of our irrational fear.