Considering that they were violently and belligerently attempting to assault an unconscious victim in the hospital, assaulting and kidnapping a nurse in the process, it takes a significant stretch of the imagination to believe that they were doing that for any non-nefarious purpose. It’s possible that they were planning to steal DNA for use by a mad scientist who needs that DNA to save humanity from an alien plague or something, but it seems far more reasonable that they were trying to frame someone.
As others have pointed out, drug tests are used as evidence to prove that someone is on something, not that they’re clean. And the burden of proof lies on the accuser. A test to exonerate someone would only be needed to counter a false-positive test.
There may be an edge case to give it some legitimacy if the state has some special rulings regarding something like “postaccident investigations involving those engaged in transporting high-level radioactive waste” and that’s what was in the truck. That would make sense. But in that case, the police should have known so and been able to explain it and act appropriately within the bounds of their authority instead of going rogue and berserking on civilians.
Not really my theory, more my attempt to guess what One_Brown_Mouse’s theory was.
I have no idea what was going on. Although the “we have to take samples from drivers involved in fatal accidents” policy followed by the “Respect my authority - you must obey!” feedback loop sounds like a contender, especially given it’s his own department standing up for him vs. another department trying to get the samples.
Because that’s illegal, has no training to take blood either. He’s merely on that unit. And he does not have the means to safely store, transport and test the blood.
Also from an update to the case, it seems that the police were definitely trying to pin the collision on the truck driver. The crash was a direct result of the high speed chase and the department was trying to exonerate themselves of any blame by testing the driver for drugs. Also the blood draw request was unnecessary because as protocol the hospital had already done a blood draw, but the police had not known that and were trying to illegally get them to do it again. They found out after they arrested the nurse that blood had already been obtained, though they’ll still need a warrant to get it tested.
There’s a lot of ‘looking on’ going on in the article (well, the photo caption at least)
The suggestion in that article seems to be that the idea was to exonerate the truck-driver but that just seems to be talking-head speculation.
Lots of new policies all round too.
The police apparently have a new policy “Maybe, sometimes think about following the actual law rather than what the voices in your ear are telling you”.
And the hospital apparently has a new policy that nurses won’t talk to cops. Only hospital administrators will do that in future. And away from patient areas.
That’s nice - at least when the administrators get carted off in handcuffs, it won’t disturb the patients. And I suppose the administrators can arrange the meetings in a room with CCTV.
Not sure how i’d feel about officers being able to draw blood themselves should they want to. Coincidentally i just looked this up and i have have strong opinions about this. Especially after this particular case where the officers did not give a shit that they did not have a warrant or consent.
The blood draw is done by a certified phlebotomist. In some cities, like Scottsdale, the majority of the blood draws for DUI cases are done after a suspect is taken to a hospital where blood can be drawn. In other cities, many officers are certified phlebotomists so they are able to draw the blood anywhere and will sometimes even draw blood on the side of the road or in a police station. In some cases they can literally hold a person down and draw their blood if they have a valid warrant.
Where Do These Forced Blood Draws Tend To Happen?
The blood draws are usually done at either a DUI task force, which is like a makeshift station, or at the police station. It can sometimes also be done at the hospital, although it is usually at a police station or a task force area. A physically forced blood draw is usually done when someone refuses to let the officers draw blood, even after being shown a warrant. In that case, the officers might have to forcibly hold the person down or restrain them so that they can draw blood.
Website is specific to Arizona since that was one of the first hits i got on Google. Not sure what the laws are like for other states.
Apparently Utah allows various people to draw blood for testing, mostly medical personnel but also any one with a permit from the Department of Health:
Yes, I suspected this might be the case; my dad owes me $5 and my wife gets to do the dishes, even tho it’s her turn to cook dinner; woot! That is, IF I can get a cite on that; would you happen to remember where you found that later info?
I think it will almost, if not entirely eliminate incidents like this. Cops, especially the ones actually out on the street/in the field doing stuff, are VERY much tuned into several social factors, consciously or not, in a given interaction with a subject. For example:
Wealth. A hospital administrator is a LOT wealthier and damn well can afford lawyers, for example, even if s/he didn’t have corporate support (and they will).
Social status/dominance and submission. Police pretty much perfectly encapsulate classic primate dominance and aggression mechanics in almost every aspect of the job, from their rigidly hierarchical command structure, to their interactions with the public. And if a hospital admin is anything, they’re quite simply “the Boss” of their bailiwick; an “alpha”, as it were, of whatever sex.
It’s also the admin’s job to handle this kind of crap. Hospital administrators are expected to know health laws pretty damn well, even if they are not lawyers, and have specific training and skills for handling this kind of interaction (one would hope!); not so much an ER nurse, who happens to be directly busy saving people’s lives…
Hopefully I’m not just blowing sunshine up everyone’s ass, but I think this one tiny piece of the fascist engine might have some grit in the works.
I got the info from DeFranco’s Monday video. Yes he’s a youtuber but he’s currently trying to build a news focused channel and he’s thus far been good with doing his due diligence as far as research goes and he generally will post his source. For the “pin the crash on the truck driver” i think it’s still hearsay but i don’t think it’s a crazy thing to say. For the blood already having been drawn DeFranco directly posts a clip of that in his own video, it features the douchebag officer discussing it with another officer and he admits that they slipped up because blood had already been drawn so it was all unnecessary… i’m sure one can find a direct source to it but i’m at work currently.
