FORT WORTH DUI COPS WILL GET SEARCH WARRANTS TO TAKE BLOOD ON NEW YEAR'S EVE
CALIFORNIA DUI DEFENSE LAWYER NEWS
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 Attorneyʼs 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."
