Fort Worth will take blood from DWI suspects

[TexasRed]

Forewarned is forearmed ... :evil:

FORT WORTH -- Fort Worth motorists who get pulled over on New Year's Eve and think they can beat a drunken driving conviction by refusing a breath test had better think again.

Fort Worth police are going to get a search warrant and take your blood.

For the first time, Fort Worth police are launching a "No Refusal DWI" campaign in an effort to combat drunken driving on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.

And they certainly aren't being secret about their intentions.

In a press conference Friday morning, Fort Worth Police Chief Ralph Mendoza, along with officials from the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office, Dalworthington Gardens and Mothers against Drunk Driving, warned motorists not to get behind the wheel if they have imbibed.

"If you refuse to take that blood test, we are going to ask for a warrant from a magistrate and come back and take your blood," Mendoza said. "Basically, we are going to get our evidence one way or the other."

The idea for the no refusal holiday actually came from senior prosecutor Lloyd Whelchel of the Tarrant County District Attorneys Office. Whelchel recently attended a training seminar and reminded officials that authorities in El Paso and Harris counties had similar holiday programs in place.

The campaign will run from 8 p.m. Monday to 5 a.m. Tuesday and from 8 p.m. Tuesday to 5 a.m. Wednesday. If a Fort Worth police officer pulls over a suspected drunken driver who refuses a breath test, the officer will seek a search warrant from a magistrate.

The suspect will then be taken to a room at the Fort Worth Police Department where police officers with Dalworthington Gardens, who have been trained to take blood, will obtain the samples.

"We are excited to be a small cog in this wheel," said Bill Waybourn of Dalworthington Gardens public safety, whose department runs a similar program year round.

More then two years ago, Dalworthingon Gardens, a town of 2,300 which is surrounded by Arlington and Pantego, refused to take no for an answer and began obtaining warrants for drivers who refused breath and sobriety tests.

"For each DWI arrested, we took their blood," Waybourn said. "We have done that in over 150 cases. We've only had three out of those that have been below the legal limit."

Prosecutor Richard Alpert, an expert in the prosecution and handling of DWI cases, said using search warrants to obtain blood samples for suspected drunken drivers is not new in Texas. And he promised that the DA's office will vigorously prosecute motorists who are arrested for DWI this holiday season.

"If you are stopped by a Fort Worth police officer and you are arrested for DWI, we are going to get a sample," Alpert said. "We are going to get the evidence we need in court to prove your guilt.

"There is no way around it. It is our hope that most people will hear this message and use common sense and not risk it. Those who don't hear the message will face the consequences."

[curley725]

I don't like what I just read at all....Thats f#*@ked up to me

Curley

[TexasRed]

I agree Curley .. I cant fuckin imagine if - nor when - any of us will ever get any of our civil rights back :neutral:

I didnt even bother to add that FW, effective, 1/1/08 put a full city smoking ban in effect too. With very few exceptions. Luckily the exceptions are bars & thats pretty much the only place anyone will see me in FW from now on

[GzrGldGeo]

I saw this on DUI.com. I tend to agree with most of it. I do think we are on a runaway train that is allowing our government to violate our Constitutional rights in the name of good over evil.

I also agree the real issue behind a lot of it is money and greed.

Here is the DUI.comer's comment:

Its about the money
They have gone from .15 to .10 to .08 and at .08 the money is rolling in. A whole industry both private and government has grown up around DUI cases. Look at the classes, they are full. There is absolutely no way to pass afield sobriety test and everyone knows it. It is purely up to the cop who pulls you over and they never have the camera when it is a questionable DUI. We see plenty of shots of the falling down drunks but never the guy who is weaving his body a half inch, or who didnt put his toe to his heel on the third step..... it is the fleecing of America by an out of control money hungry legal system.

Then another guy.....
I recently recieved on of those famous not really drunk but had a glass of wine and am now a criminal dui's and took it to court. And funny what you said was pretty much exactly what they put in the outcome of the trial. It said they found the cops said to be the truth were my side was a deemed inaccurate and in other words a lie because I had alchool in my system even though they have conviently lost the blood. So they have suceeded in creating a world famous fraud scam that the government is in on! And we as up standing world class citizens are being treated like criminals mixed in with the murders and rapist of the world. I ask you what is wrong with this pictute????

Please be careful out there on the road.

[Hellswraith]

Hearing about this blood testing makes me want to be a fucking hermit or just haul ass and try to outrun them if I ever get pulled over . I know Im not going to just let anyone take my blood and I suspect a serious ass kicking will have to take place before I allow that shit to happen .


This is a very sore subject for me as I have 2 Dwi's on my record . It's not something Im proud of but unfortunately shit happens . With the legal limit going down to .08 and probably lower soon - one drink = you are fucked ..

My first was in 94 when I was coming home from a bar in Dallas with my buddy Joe . I was parked in a taco bell parking lot and Joe got out to go take a piss . A cop saw him get out and go piss and followed him back to my car where I was eating my tacos and listening to the radio .. I refused to blow and got charged for Dwi for having my keys in the ignition .. I wasnt really drunk on this one , I was more tired and just trying to get something to eat and go home . I was two blocks from my house when this happened .

The 2nd one was in 97 after my mother in law passed away . My wife went to Curacao for the funeral and I got HAMMERRED and got lost trying to go to Houston . I ended up in Collin county and I deserved that one . I even had my two dogs in the back seat and they went to jail too ...


I realise all this can be avoided by simply not drinking . Unfortunately I have a hard time seeing why they even need to go this route in the first place . What happened to the world we live in where you have ZERO rights any longer . Pisses me off really !!
:shock:

[GzrGldGeo]

Hells,

You do realize the next one will be a felony and prison time don't you? I will let Red post the story about how a VP she knew destroyed his life in the last couple of years.

That is nothing to chance. You would be better off to car jack a car as that isn't a felony yet I don't think.

I am being quite serious.

[Hellswraith]

Originally Posted by GzrGldGeo

Hells,

You do realize the next one will be a felony and prison time don't you?

Im well aware of this and thats one reason it scares the shit outta me .. I do my best to not drive after drinking but Id be a liar if I said I havent drink and drove in the past 10 years since my last one ..