El Paso Police draw blood from suspected drunk-driver Joel Garcia without a warrant

Suspected drunk-driver Joel Garcia refused to give a blood sample to police, but a blood sample was still taken despite police not having a warrant to take the sample.

Garcia was charged with three counts of intoxication manslaughter after allegedly being involved in a collision that killed three people on Christmas Eve.

Last month the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled taking blood samples from suspected drunk drivers without a warrant is unconstitutional. But that ruling didn’t stop El Paso Police from taking blood from Garcia.

“You want to rely on the people with authority to make sure things are done without error so that way there’s no question,” said Defense Attorney Joshua Spencer.

Spencer said there’s no reason to take a suspected drunk driver’s blood without a warrant.

“Getting a blood draw is a violation of a person’s privacy, because of having to penetrate skin,” Spencer said.

But under the law, according to the El Paso District Attorney’s office, “a warrant for a blood draw is not needed if the individual gives consent or if the peace officers believes there are exigent circumstances.”

Exigent, meaning emergency situations. An individual officer can determine when there is an exigent circumstance. However, the decision to conduct a search without a warrant will be reviewed by a police supervisor to ensure compliance with case law.

Garcia, according El Paso Police, was an emergency situation. A spokesperson told ABC-7, “An officer… was at the police station writing a search warrant affidavit when it was learned Mr. Garcia was to about to be given medication that would contaminate any future blood samples for evidentiary purposes.”

“No, I don’t buy that at all,” Spencer said. “Everybody should do their part without having any question of whether that process was done correctly.”

Spencer said, in any jurisdiction, there’s always an on-call judge, available to approve search warrants in minutes.Not only that, but according the police affidavit, Garcia ended up refusing any medical treatments and left the hospital with his blood being unaltered by medication.

But El Paso police say Texas law allows an officer to obtain blood without a warrant when the defendant had been involved in an accident causing seriously bodily injury or death.

Spencer said it will be up to the local court to decided how to apply the law, and to determine whether a warrant-less blood sample will have any impact on the case.