Lakewood police to take own blood draws at scene of DUI arrests

Lakewood police are going to be drawing blood from suspects, and are the first officers in the state certified to do so.

Thursday morning, Lakewood Chief Michael Zaro demonstrated the blood draw process. For other departments, officers or deputies often take suspects to a hospital where blood is taken by medical staff.

“The goal of this program is to reduce the drain on hospital resources and decrease the amount of time it takes to get blood drawn, while improving efficiencies in court testimony and ultimately increasing safety for the motoring public,” Lakewood Lt. Chris Lawler said in a statement.

Previously Lakewood police had a longer delay obtaining blood evidence in DUI collisions that involve injuries.

DUI defense attorneys will be watching closely. Attorney James Egan has defended more than 2000 DUI cases. Asked if cases could be weakened by having police officers draw the blood he responded, “Does it weaken the state's case, yes. I think to some extent it does because it raises the question how is this done, was it done correctly, was there a non-alcohol based swab was the sample obtained correctly,” he said.

The officers got the same training hospital phlebotomists receive. They attended a 50 hour course taught by 27 year phlebotomist Tammy Ross. “These guys were stellar in the class,” she said. Asked if she would let the officers draw her blood she said, “I wouldn’t hesitate a bit.”

In April 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court decided with an 8-1 ruling that police must obtain a search warrant for blood evidence in DUI collisions that involve injuries. The case they ruled on involved a Missouri man who was pulled over by a state trooper; when he refused to take a Breathalyzer test, the trooper drove him to a hospital and ordered a blood draw.

Police in that case didn't obtain a warrant because they believed the time it would take to do so would have allowed the level of alcohol in the blood evidence to diminish.

After that 2013 decision, the Washington Association of Prosecuting Attorneys told police to get search warrants in all DUI cases where blood evidence is required – even vehicular homicide and vehicular assault cases where warrants were not previously required under the state constitution.

Justice Clarence Thomas was the lone dissenter, arguing that obtaining a warrant unnecessarily slows the time-sensitive evidence collection process.

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