Travis W. Andrews v. State of Oklahoma

Jay, Oklahoma revocation of driving privileges lawyer represented the Plaintiff.

¶2 In February 2012, DPS issued an Order of Revocation revoking Andrews' driver's license for a period of 180 days.1 The Order of Revocation states, in part, as follows:



Your driving privilege is revoked effective 03-05-2012 for a period of 180 days. This action is required after receiving a law enforcement officer['s] affidavit of your arrest on 11-07-2011 and laboratory analysis showing your blood alcohol content to be 0.08 or more at the time of testing.

You may make a request in writing for an administrative hearing . . . .



¶3 A hearing was subsequently held before the hearing officer appointed by the Commissioner of Public Safety. The hearing officer sustained the Order of Revocation, finding, in pertinent part, as follows:



It is the opinion of the hearing officer that the licensee was arrested upon reasonable belief that he was operating or in actual physical control of a motor vehicle upon the public roads . . . while under the influence of alcohol . . ., and after being requested to do so and informed that his driver's license would be revoked should he have an alcohol concentration of 0.08 or more, took a test within two hours of the arrest in accordance with the existent Rules of the Board of Alcohol and Drug Influence and the result of such test was an alcohol concentration of 0.08 or more.



It is therefore ordered that the order of the Commissioner of Public Safety . . . is hereby sustained and the driving privilege of the licensee be revoked for a period of 180 days beginning 06 January 2013.2



¶4 On November 27, 2012, Andrews filed a petition in the district court appealing the revocation. The district court reviewed the case de novo, and a trial was held on January 23, 2013. At the trial, Oklahoma State Highway Patrol Trooper Bryan Heath Linn (Trooper Linn) testified that at about 10:15 p.m. on November 7, 2011, he arrived at the scene of a single-vehicle accident. The vehicle, driven by Andrews, had collided head on with a tree.3 He testified that Andrews was the sole occupant of the car, and that Andrews admitted to being the driver of the vehicle at the time of the accident.



¶5 Trooper Linn testified Andrews "ha[d] an odor of alcohol."4 He further testified Andrews' "speech was slurred," and "his eyes appeared very glassy and watery . . . ." Trooper Linn further testified Andrews immediately admitted he had been drinking alcohol before the accident. He testified Andrews "stated that he had just got[ten] off work," and "[t]hat he had stopped and bought a six pack of beer after work and had dr[iven] straight from there and was headed home, . . . whenever he had the collision that he had (sic) consumed the six pack of beer."5 Trooper Linn again testified Andrews "admitted" to him at the scene of the accident "he had drunk a six pack of beer."6 Trooper Linn testified he asked Andrews if he had consumed any alcohol after the accident and that Andrews stated he had not. Trooper Linn testified he "believed that [Andrews] was under the influence of alcohol" and placed him under arrest.



¶6 Andrews had an injury to his head, was bleeding, and was placed in an ambulance. Trooper Linn testified he did not know the extent of Andrews' injury and, because of Andrews' medical condition, Trooper Linn did not perform any field sobriety or breath tests on him.7



¶7 After placing Andrews under arrest "inside the ambulance,"8 Trooper Linn advised Andrews of the "implied consent test" and informed him that it would be a blood test. Trooper Linn testified that Andrews did not ask him any questions and "said that he would take the test."9 At 11:25 p.m., and upon the request of Trooper Linn, Emergency Medical Technician/Paramedic Heath Barnwell (the EMT paramedic)10 withdrew four vials of Andrews' blood using a blood kit provided by Trooper Linn.11



¶8 After the EMT paramedic withdrew Andrews' blood, Trooper Linn sealed the blood kit and mailed it to an Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI) lab for testing. The OSBI's analysis of the blood revealed a blood alcohol content (BAC) of "0.16 g/100mL."12



¶9 Andrews' petition in the district court alleged that the EMT paramedic was not authorized under Oklahoma's implied consent laws to withdraw blood for determining the level of intoxicants in his blood.13 In support of his petition, Andrews filed a "Brief in Support of Objection to Admissibility of Blood Test," in which he contended that paramedics are not authorized by Oklahoma's implied consent laws, 47 O.S.2011 §§ 752 & 759, to withdraw blood for the purpose of determining BAC.14



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¶23 Based on our review of the record and applicable law, we affirm the trial court's Order denying DPS's "motion to reconsider/vacate" the trial court's prior order reversing the implied consent revocation order.



¶24 AFFIRMED.

¶23 Based on our review of the record and applicable law, we affirm the trial court's Order denying DPS's "motion to reconsider/vacate" the trial court's prior order reversing the implied consent revocation order.



¶24 AFFIRMED.