Utah hospital nurse is roughed up and arrested by cop for doing her job

Actually, to suspect that a person is under the influence is one level less restrictive than "Probable Cause". This term is "Reasonable Suspicion", reasonable suspicion may arise from an Officer's observations at a traffic stop/crash scene, i.e. odor of an alcoholic beverage, visual signs of impairment. Reasonable suspicion is all that is necessary to then conduct Field Sobriety tests. The positive results of Field Sobriety tests may result in Probable Cause for an arrest. There are times when a driver in a crash is transported to a hospital unconscious. Open alcoholic beverages inside the vehicle, that simple fact that a crash occurred, witness statements, and the odor of an alcoholic beverage on the person of the unconscious person at the hospital may constitute probable cause for an arrest in lieu of Field Sobriety tests. Reasonable suspicion leads to probable cause, in short.

 

Correct. But I was replying to Winston's post. His post did not reference Utah.

 

Yea, I don't have time to watch the video but that was all unnecessary. Could have been handled much better, on both sides.
The nurse should have just allowed the drawing of the blood. The courts will block any evidence from being introduced at a later time of it was, in fact, obtained improperly. Happens all the time.

 

Trust me, I know. It's been a while since I did anything with implied consent, but I was all too familiar with the process. If I reflected for a minute, I could probably recite the Intoxilyzer warning verbatim. Quoted that shit about 6 times a night for 3 years straight.

My only thing about this, and I could be wrong because it's been so long, but in Mississippi, if someone died from a car crash, you got blood samples taken within 2 hours. If they were seriously injured and unresponsive and you had probable cause to believe they were intoxicated/impaired, you could take them. But, and this is the part I can't remember, the samples couldn't be used until consent was later given. By either representation or by the suspect. If they refused to release the evidence, they lost their privileges to drive. Not that this anything to do with anything.

 

Not in Louisiana. Once the results were obtained lawfully then the results were valid for the duration of the court proceedings, unless things have changed since 2012...
I was a cop for 21 years, 15 years in uniform patrol. I've made more DWI arrests than I wanted to, actually got really proficient.

 

i dont know about this...its quite possible she would have been in violation of HIPAA. at minimum she would be in a quandary..

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...fo.pdf&usg=AFQjCNGkP2bxQvmqRZqZpy28aEC1pRmruw

 

Access to the patient and drawing blood is not "protected health information". Results of a blood test conducted by the lab in the hospital is "protected health information". She would have been correct to prevent the officers from viewing the patient's hospital record and any lab results.

She had no business questioning the authenticity of their investigation, if that's what she did (I didn't watch the video). She had no business interjecting herself into the investigation.

It is proper for her to protect the patient's physical safety. Protecting his legal rights is up to his lawyer, not his nurse.

 

Hospitals do conduct blood alcohol tests but, even if the officers had obtained this information, it would not have been admissible as evidence.

 

I just passed 13 years here. Did the DUI unit for 3. But that was from 2006-2009. I know things have changed. And so has my memory.

 

I've seen many Louisiana State Troopers tell motorists they were not under arrest and, if they passed the Intoxilyzer, they could be released. This is just plain wrong. As you know, the arrest must always take place prior to the test. A good DWI attorney can help. But if a good cop documents everything properly and does everything correctly then there's nothing an attorney can do to help, problem is that the attorney will never tell this to the prospective client. A good DWI attorney can only help when the arresting officer makes mistakes but they'll all deny this.