News of the Day: Allowing Untrained Cops to Take Patient's Suspect's Blood Sample Could Lead to Infection

Nothing says a fun night out like getting stopped by a cop for suspected drunken driving and ending up with an infection in your arm. After he jabs you a couple times with a syringe.

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.

That comes after 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.

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.

And the reason for this unsafe, and invasive policing tactic?

Law enforcement agencies say having officers do blood draws themselves is quicker and more convenient than going to a hospital and more accurate than a breath test.

Or, we could just start arresting anyone in a bar who has keys in their pockets. Quick, certainly more convenient, and the most effective way to make sure no one ever drives drunk again.

Via The Corner, full article here.