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Austin TX DWI blood alcohol test

Reader’s Question:

We recently moved here in Austin, Texas. My son has once been charged with DUI in the previous state we lived in but his case was dismissed. Since then, I’ve been following some news about DWI arrests. I heard that the Police Chief here in Austin is planning to train officers to draw blood for Texas DWI in Austin. Isn’t it that this would be a dangerous act on the part of the DWI suspect?

Marlon

Austin, TX

Your question is quite interesting, Marlon and you are very up to date when it comes to DWI news considering the fact that you just recently moved in Austin, Texas.

Austin Police Chief has announced his interest in training officers to draw blood when a driver refuses to submit to a breath test and is suspected of drunk driving in Austin. He is actually seeking funds to train as many DWI police officers as possible in the drawing of a blood sample. The key feature of the plan is to replace paramedics and nurses with police officers in the drawing of a blood sample. The Police Chief has noted reduced taxpayer cost and the advantage of time in drawing a sample quickly from a driver suspected of driving while intoxicated in Austin. He noted that it would be a savings to taxpayer because the officer would already be in court to give testimony in the drunk driving case.

He also plans that search warrants would be aggressively used when a driver declines to be tested.

Like any other new plans and introductions in law enforcement, the plan has raised concerns from critics about blood related pathogens and the presence of needles during a DWI arrest.