Update: Check out this post about a recent court of appeals case in this area. Original post: Most DWI cases involve breath tests for alcohol. But there are circumstances in which blood tests are administered. Most often, this happens when the defendant is injured in an accident and so cannot take a breath test. It may also happen when the arresting officer suspects that the defendant is impaired as a result of drugs, rather than alcohol. But blood tests are not limited to such cases. In fact, they can be administered in virtually any DWI case. Under G.S. 20-16.2(a), "[a]ny person who drives a vehicle on a highway . . . thereby gives consent to a chemical analysis if [arrested for or] charged with an implied consent offense." The arresting officer may "designate the type of test or tests to be given." G.S. 20-16.2(c). As a matter of convenience, most officers designate breath tests in most cases, but an officer may always choose to do otherwise. Of course, under G.S. 20-16.2(a), drivers must be notified of their right to refuse a test, and if a driver does refuse, no test may be given under the implied consent statute. G.S. 20-16.2(c). Nonetheless, a blood test may often be administered even to a driver who has refused such a test, under two different provisions of law. (This post doesn't address the situation where a driver is injured, has bloodwork done for medical purposes at the hospital, and the state later wants to access [...]
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