From Scripps News Service:
Attorneys are putting new scrutiny on a practice that has become common among law enforcement in the West– having officers, not medical personnel, draw blood with syringes in suspected drunken driving cases.
[SNIP]
Arizona law requires that drunken driving suspects submit to a test or lose their license for a year and it’s the officer’s choice, not the driver’s, whether to use a breath or a blood test.
So police officers — not trained nurses — trying to poke unruly drunks with needles at 2 a.m? What could possibly go wrong? Oh, right:
… a man developed a persistent infection at the site of a blood draw administered by a Pima County sheriff’s deputy. He has filed what is believed to be the first claim in Arizona against the practice, which could put local taxpayers on the hook for any damages.
You complain about the government being bloodsuckers and the next thing you know… With any luck, Radley Balko will be on top of this issue soon.