Friday, August 20, 2010

Bad Blood Draw: Plausibly Deniable

Here's the thing: the facility where Officer 0.19 was taken? Nowhere near the accident scene. But it is very handy to downtown.

It's a first-rate place, too; they can do a bit more than a Doc-in-a-box (it's where my nose got sewn up after my run-in with inadvertently nostril-ripping hardware at work, for instance) and they do a lot of blood and urine tests for alcohol and drugs. It's where my employer sends the lucky winners of the Random Screening Contest, for instance -- and if IMPD does random screening, it's probably where they go, too. And if one of our drivin' folk is involved in a wreck, it's where we send them for dope and booze checking, just in case.

So, you're Capt. or Lt. J. Average Internal Affairs, and a fellow officer is involved in a terrible auto accident. This happens; people sometimes fail at getting out of the way and are struck despite the police, fire or ambulance driver's best efforts to avoid them. If your head is in that line of thought, you take your fellow officer off to the Place Policemen Always Go. Oops.

True or not, it's impossible to disprove. I still have my doubts about the innocence of the choice. But it could happen.

Mr. Prosecutor Brizzi had better wear his very luckiest lawyering shoes when this mess goes to court.

4 comments:

Justthisguy said...

Ma'am, you are obviously too smart to be on that jury. And that's a damned shame.

Divemedic said...

Here in Florida, the law says that anytime a driver is involved in an accident that results in death (or a party is so severely injured that death is possible) that driver MUST give a blood sample for testing. Police can use force to TAKE the sample.

Every cop knows it. Every cop knows the procedures, because it happens almost daily. The likelihood that this case was a mistake is pretty close to zero.

With that being said, the cop in this case won't need lucky shoes, because the jury in any case (civil or criminal) will never hear a word about the botched test, because it is inadmissible.

Anonymous said...

"If your head is in that line of thought, you take your fellow officer off to the Place Policemen Always Go. Oops."

Bobbi, FACT was right there. Remember this wasn't at 2AM it was in the middle of the afternoon.

No way the cops made the decision to take Bisard to a non-certified testing site. That call came from the Prosecuting Attorney.

I want all office and cellular phones from everyone and I want everyone in the prosecutor's work walked in front of a grand jury and I want it now.

Roberta X said...

Good luck. --All they need is reasonable doubt, and there is plenty of that.

Accident or deliberate act (and I don't think my opinion is unclear), this hand has been played already.

My prediction: the officer takes a misdemeanor plea and leaves the force, one way or another. Not an ideal outcome but a likely one.