Police: Blood sample taken from Joel Garcia without warrant because medicine could have altered blood

The allegedly drunk man accused of causing a crash that killed three people had his blood drawn without a warrant but police say it was necessary because he was about to be given medicine that would change his blood chemistry.

That information was written by El Paso Police in court documents following Joel Garcia’s fiery collision with a car driven by Joshua Deal at about 1:46 a.m. Christmas Eve. Garcia has been charged with three counts of intoxication manslaughter in the crash.

Joshua was killed along with his girlfriend, Shannon Del Rio, and his brother, Isaiah Deal.

Police say witnesses identified Garcia as the driver who ran a red light at a high rate of speed and t-boned the car with the Deal brothers and Del Rio.

Read full article detailing the crash, inlcuding how many drinks Garcia told police he had, by going tohttp://bit.ly/1xt8y2J

The police affidavit also states that an order to draw Garcia’s blood was given before the warrant paperwork was completed because Garcia was on the verge of receiving medication that would alter his blood chemistry.

Last month, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled the warrantless drawing of a blood sample from a South Texas DWI suspect was unconstitutional.

ABC-7 asked an El Paso Police spokesman how last month’s ruling could impact what happened in Garcia’s case.

“The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals case you reference applied to a TX law that allowed an officer to obtain blood without a warrant when the defendant had been involved in an accident causing serious bodily injury or death,” El Paso Police spokesman Sgt. Chris Mears said in an email to ABC-7. “The court struck down this blanket policy and stated a warrant or an applicable exception to the warrant requirement was necessary. In this case the officers had reason to believe if the blood was not immediately drawn the evidence would be forever lost due to the contamination by the medication Mr. Garcia was about to receive. This creates ‘exigent circumstances’ a well-established exception to the warrant requirement routinely recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court.”

“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 decide how to apply the law, and to determine whether a warrant-less blood sample will have any impact on the case.