So you’re driving home after a dinner…and you’re pulled over by the police. The officer asks you if you’ve been drinking, and when you reply that you have not, he asks you to step out of the car and gives you a field sobriety test.. He then administers a portable breath test. When the results indicate no alcohol in your system, he tells you that he suspects you are under the influence of some type of drug and arrests you.
The officer then drives you to a nearby medical facility and tells you that you have to give him a urine sample. Angry for having been wrongfully arrested, and believing you have a right to refuse, you decline.
What happens next? Well, it could get painful….
Police Use Catheters, Force to Collect Urine Samples
Pierre, SD. July 5 — Police in South Dakota are collecting urine samples from uncooperative suspects through the use of force and catheters, a procedure the state’s top prosecutor says is legal but is criticized by others as unnecessarily invasive and a potential constitutional violation…
It’s unclear how widespread the practice of forced catheterization is in South Dakota. Attorney General Marty Jackley said in an interview that the practice is permitted with a signed court order under state law, and he cited several cases that supported the legality of the practice.
The attorney general said law enforcement would prefer not to collect urine samples by force, but that ultimately it’s up to suspects if they don’t want to cooperate.
“I don’t think anyone wants to go through that methodology,” Jackley said…
Police always take the person to a hospital if they are going to take a forced urine sample, said Tim Whalen, a Lake Andes attorney who has represented a couple of clients who have had urine samples taken without permission. Health care workers at the Wagner and Platte hospitals conduct the procedure on a regular basis, he said.
“They don’t anesthetize them,” Whalen said. “There’s a lot of screaming and hollering.”…
Do you think this practice is limited to South Dakota? Take a look at some of my earlier posts, such as Catheter Forced Up Penis After Arrest (Washington), Another Weapon on the War on Drunk Driving: Forced Catheterization (Indiana) and DUI Suspect Forced to Have Penis Catheterized (Utah).
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