Arizona High Court Rules Against Warrantless DUI Blood Draws
The Arizona Supreme Court ruled Thursday that, in most cases, police cannot take blood samples from an unconscious DUI suspect without obtaining a search warrant.
The ruling weighed the constitutionality of a state law allowing warrantless blood draws in suspected DUI cases in which a driver is dead, unconscious or otherwise incapable of refusing to grant permission. The ruling does make an exception if the police are facing urgent circumstances — beyond the normal process of metabolizing alcohol in the body, that is.
The Arizona high court said its 3-2 decision tracks a 2013 U.S. Supreme Court ruling on warrantless blood draws and Fourth Amendment privacy rights of DUI suspects.
The decision said a Mohave County judge erred in refusing to bar use of a blood sample taken from a man after a 2012 crash because state troopers could have obtained a warrant but didn't.