The Austin Police Chief is ordering officers to stop getting warrantless blood draws from drunk driving suspects. The policy change comes after a ruling Wednesday from the U.S. Supreme Court that police in most cases must try to obtain a search warrant from a judge before ordering blood tests.
Texas Law allows a warrantless blood draws in certain cases, but Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo is calling on his officers to stop doing that, at least for the time being.
“I have ordered my officers to not rely on the Transportation Code, not rely on Texas State Law, but until we get a better understanding, conduct warrants, request warrants on all of our blood draws," Acevedo said.
During APD’s no-refusal periods, when drunk driving suspects who refuse breath tests have to submit a blood sample, those tests are ordered by a search warrant from a judge.
