I’ve worked with a lot of cops in court settings. Most are really nice and sensible, others are jerks. The worst were the ‘wanna-be’ cops, like jailers and airport security. They are trying to become cops and showing their toughness.
This guy was a phlebotomist, and probably took a lot blood draws in the ER. I don’t even know why he cared that much since this wasn’t for his jurisdiction and wasn’t for someone suspected of drunk driving. This wasn’t just a 3 minute discussion, the full video last 19 minutes of him trying to enter the room and her saying no, getting the protocol, calling her supervisor, etc. In the olden days, the cops used to bring DUI suspects to the hospital ERs for the blood draws but on a Sat night they could be busy and no one to take the draw within an hour (for court evidence), so police depts trained their own officers to do it. That’s what this was, a trained officer trying to take the draw himself yet being prohibited from doing to by a department (not ER, the burn unit).
Hospital now won’t allow cops or others to take the draws from admitted patients.
I 'm confused – was he a full time law enforcement officer who went through the training to draw blood as part of his job, or was he a phlebotomist by profession who was a part time police officer?
Well as it turns out the whole fiasco was totally unnecessary. After dragging her out of the hospital and locking her in a hot police car for a half hour, he finds out that blood had already been drawn as part of the patient’s treatment. So he had what he needed all along. What a horse’s ass.
This guy apparently made some threats that he’d be bringing the “good patients” elsewhere. This is not how paramedics operate. Glad that he will not be endangering people that need urgent medical attention.
Not quite. When blood is drawn for a DUI or similar need, there is a chain of custody established and the lab uses special care not to contaminate it. If this draw did show the truck driver had been drinking and he was changed, he could probably get it excluded as evidence because it was handled by a number of people at the hospital, or the DA would have to have a dozen witnesses who testified exactly what they did with the testing. If Crazycop took the draw, he’d label it and establish the chain, and every person (probably just one in the lab) would sign the evidence log and then at trial Crazycop may be the only witness needed.
The hospital drawn blood may be excluded from evidence in a criminal trial for a lot of reasons.
He was not wrong for wanting the draw, just was wrong in how he went about it and whether he COULD take the draw.
What I don’t understand is why the officer did not want to get a warrant. If he has a valid reason, I would think that the could get a warrant from a judge quickly and easily.
The patient was some sort of reserve police officer and I think they were just looking to do this guy a favor and rule out alcohol to help prove he was not the case of the accident. The individual who hit him was being pursued by police when the crash occurred. But certainly the blood already taken could be used to establish there was no alcohol in his system.
The chain of custody concern would seem less problematic to me if the blood draw and testing were done in a hospital setting according to normal procedures. I could argue that having the officer taking the blood was more problematic – they were looking to protect a reserve officer. The hospital on the other hand is neutral.
Something I read suggested they wanted the blood to excuse their role in the high speed chase crash. If that scenario is correct, they hoped it showed alcohol or drugs. I do not have any idea if this is correct.
The worse part of this incident is that the other officers seem unwilling to restrain the rogue officer from doing something beyond his lawful authority, or pull him from duty afterward (until it became a high profile case in the news). This causes the rogue officer’s misconduct to stain the reputation of the rest of the department in the eyes of the general public. Obviously, the mistrust that results will make policing more difficult and less effective.
If the pick-up slammed into the patient causing his truck to burst into flames that seems pretty clear cut. It was a head on crash and I am going to bet it was caught on police dash cam video. Not sure the police department would have much to worry about there. The person who hit him is now deceased.
@romanigypsyeyes I am not certain if they knew he was a reserve officer – but those guys usually carry ID and sometime even mark their vehicles with that designation.
None of the reports I’ve seen reported that they knew he was a reserve police officer at the time.
Also, some reports have been made pointing to the officers wanting the blood mainly as a way to help their colleagues in the jurisdiction where the chase originated mitigate any potential liability from the accident resulting from the high speed car chase.
In short, the motivation for the blood draw wasn’t concern for the trucker who turned out to be a reserve LEO…but a CYA to mitigate possibly liability in a civil suit for their LEO colleagues.
This is not where I read it. I’ll keep looking as I have time. There are pages and pages about this story now on google, many of them defending the police. I read something a few days back about the reason for wanting the blood, but am afraid it’s just buried now.
^^ It is very standard to try to get a BAC from all involved in an accident. If the victim had been conscious, I think he would have consented (if he hadn’t been drinking and driving). The jurisdiction that asked for the draw was just following a checklist for accident investigation. Sometimes it’s just not possible to get all the items on the checklist. Then you move on and don’t do crazy at a nurse.
The victim was driving a big semi. There is no way anyone knew he was a cop as a part time job, and it didn’t matter. They were just going off the checklist.
I’d guess that a lot of the patients in the burn unit aren’t in traffic accidents but suspected of making meth or other crimes and they wouldn’t consent if they were conscious. That’s why the hospital had the agreement of with the police dept. The Crazycop was probably used to getting draws in the ER, not in the burn unit. Doesn’t explain why he went so insane.