Travis County Hospitals and Sheriff’s Department have finally figured out that Forced Blood Draws are a bad idea. When will Chief Acevedo figure it out?
The Austin American Statesman reported in today’s paper that Austin’s Hospitals and the Sheriff’s Department have informed the Austin Police Department (APD) that they will no longer collect blood for APD.
Travis County’s central booking facility had been the place where APD took their suspected DWI folks for the forced blood draw. APD would rely on the Sheriff’s nurses to do the forced blood draw. (If the person refused, they would literally strap them in a chair so that the person couldn’t move their arms, and then stick them with the needle) The Sheriff’s Department nurses stopped taking blood samples on January 1. The Sheriff’s Department has finally realized that the nurses main function should be to treat inmates, not collect evidence. Further, they are deeply concerned about having to give nurse’s overtime pay to appear in court after having been the one that draws the blood. Read the rest of this entry »