If you have a Colorado driver’s license, you have given express consent that you will submit to a chemical test for alcohol or drug use if a police officer finds probable cause that you were driving under the influence (DUI) or driving while ability impaired (DWAI).
You have the right to hire an attorney to represent you at your DMV hearing.
Drivers who refuse will have their licenses revoked, and that refusal may become evidence in their trial for driving under the influence.
However, police may forcibly restrain drivers for the purpose of performing a test, but only if they believe the person has committed four types of crimes: homicide, vehicular homicide, assault, or vehicular assault.
In the case under consideration, a Fort Collins police officer encountered a driver who showed signs of intoxication, and the driver refused a roadside sobriety test.
After learning the driver had previous DUIs, the officers obtained a warrant and forcibly took a blood sample, even though the driver had not been suspected of the four listed offenses.
“The General Assembly has decided that, in the case of someone who is suspected of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs but is not suspected of one of the four listed offenses,” wrote Judge Christina F. Gomez, “the driver may be motivated to cooperate with testing by threatened punishments but may not be forced to undergo such testing.”
Denver defense attorney and Court TV correspondent Jeffrey Wolf believes the court’s decision should instill confidence in public safety:
“If law enforcement can get a warrant to intrude so far into one’s privacy as to take blood from their body, it is a bridge too far that could lead to widespread abuses of privacy rights,” he explained. “Therefore, I do not believe the public should be concerned about law enforcement being deprived of a tool to apprehend drunk drivers, but rather heartened that privacy rights are being respected and protected.”
Click here to read the complete article; plus, more insights from defense attorney Jeffrey Wolf.
