Suspected Drunk Drivers

By Gregg Wendorf
Advance News Journal

In Hidalgo County, late at night, when drunks take over the roads, the nighttime hours are seldom quiet for the attorneys who gave their cell number to the wrong person: “I just got stopped for suspected drunk driving. What do I do?”

Says the attorney: “Whatever you do, don’t take a breathalyzer test.”

“So, you’re telling me to go ahead and take it?”

Says the attorney, trying to sound calm: “No, I said, DON’T TAKE A BREATHALYZER.”

For the entire months of November and December 2023, the legal eagles can rest easy because no one can refuse a breathalyzer test and/or a blood test in Hidalgo County. Which is why it’s important to get the word out now. During this month and next, anyone stopped by a cop for suspected drunk driving, later backed up by the inability to walk a straight line, cannot refuse a breathalyzer and/or a blood test because there are judges standing by, whether at home or the home of a “close colleague,” ready and willing to sign off on a search warrant.

That warrant will allow cops to take you to a collection station where a nurse will draw your blood to see exactly how much alcohol is in your system.

“I, like, had, like, maybe, three beers, but that was like four hours ago, I swear. I’m not lying. Do I look like I’m lying?”

Meanwhile, your blood test just shows you with a blood-alcohol level north of .20, when the legal limit is 0.08.

The Normal Protocol

If November and December weren’t a No-Refusal time period in Hidalgo County, then the normal protocol would fall into place.

If arrested for DWI, you’d be ordered by a judge to pay for an alcohol-monitoring device (which could be another newspaper story all by itself), or not, depending on how high up the food chain your connections go.

Then, your case would bounce around the Hidalgo County Court System for a year or two, maybe longer if you can pull it off, and in the end, after the county taxpayers have spent a considerable amount of time prosecuting your case because you first pled not guilty to the charge, you’d cop a plea and get off with some community-service time.

That’s not to say that all, or any, of the judges are doing anything wrong, necessarily. Nor is the district attorney. There are simply too many suspected DWIs in this county to properly adjudicate. To really pay the piper for a drunk-driving rap, you have to either kill or maim someone, and even that is becoming too common in South Texas; and even then, with the right connections, you can still walk and escape serious prison time.

Texas law enforcement always has the authority to require DWI suspects to comply with breath or blood testing because of the state’s implied consent law, which is inherent in the driver’s license you possess.

When you fill out an application for a Texas driver’s license, you are giving implied consent to a breath or blood test if law enforcement suspects you of drunk driving. This is known as the implied consent law. But now you’ve just been stopped by police, and handing over proof to the cops that you’re drunk, in the way of breath or blood samples, isn’t what you want to do at this moment in time. Screw the DL application.

The difference during a “No Refusal” period is that the police agencies put greater emphasis on catching drunk drivers and have more resources at their disposal to ensure that they can obtain a test sample in a timely manner. Judges are on call to review affidavits for warrants during the late-night hours when DWI arrests usually occur. Nurses are available at the station to draw blood samples.

Plus, a No-Refusal period, such as Hidalgo County’s two months, also increases awareness of drunk driving and its repercussions. With so many driving apps available these days, not to mention the traditional cab companies, why take such a huge chance of getting arrested if you’ve been out drinking. No one can explain why so many drunk-drivers still drive, other than alcohol gives one a false sense of normalcy.

Last but not least, cops need probable cause to suspect you of drunk driving, which then kicks in the request for a breathalyzer or blood test.

By this time, though, the dash cam already has video of you failing to walk the straight line, stand on one leg and count to 10, whatever the test, you’ve already failed it.

So when defense attorneys say the breathalyzer test isn’t fair because of potential false-positives, then no doubt your client has enough money to request a private blood test.

No, by this time, he or she (the client) knows they were drunk when they got pulled over, and you know it, too, because you heard their slurred speech. You could almost smell their breath over the cell. You just don’t want to lose a client by telling them to do the right thing — take the breathalyzer if they haven’t been drinking too much.

Bottom line: During the entire months of November and December, all the law enforcement agencies across Hidalgo County, including the sheriff’s office, will be on the lookout for suspected drunk drivers. If you get stopped, and police establish probable cause, if you don’t voluntarily submit to a breathalyzer test, then a warrant will be signed by a local judge, based on the word of law enforcement, and your blood will be drained. Sorry. Mistake. Your blood will be drawn.