Washington State Troopers Charged Her With Drunken Driving. But Her Brain Was Bleeding.
Washington State Troopers Charged Her With Drunken Driving. But Her Brain Was Bleeding.
Nicole McClure said she spent hours in a jail cell, enduring taunts, until a delayed medical check revealed that she had a life-threatening problem with her brain.
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Cops suck and all but honestly how were they supposed to know that? If the symptoms of this and drunkenness are roughly the same and they’ve encountered 1000 DUIs to 1 brain bleed then they’re going to assume brain bleed.
To a hammer, every problem is a nail
How many DUIs do you give out to people who blow a 0.0? If a driver refuses to blow standardly a blood test is allowed/offered. It is only admissable in court if performed by a medical professional. Which means if they just asked her to blow and it was a 0.0... and they still didn't believe her, taking her to a hospital instead of jail would be the logical next step to have the blood test performed where a health professional may have had a shot at catching said health issues.
Use a breathalyzer maybe? How can you charge someone with drunk driving if you have no proof they’re drunk?
One can be drunk driving without exceeding the legal limit, at least in the states I've looked into. Being under that limit is not necessarily a defense, and if your driving is impaired due to alcohol, you are still drunk driving. It's just that being over that limit is a crime regardless of how impaired you appear.
Breathalyzers are useful but not all you need nor can they be depended upon. I’ve blown 0.0 at least three times in my life after drinking.
No I don’t drink and drive but cops like to show up to parties of college/high schoolers and make them blow if underage. I had it happen several times and blew 0.0 while drinking before 21, thankfully never got caught underage drinking
To a hammer, every problem is a nail
Yes, that's the problem. They ignored indicators that challenged their assumptions. The systemic problems in police forces put people in unnecessary danger.
I dunno, maybe when she said she wasn't feeling well, at least have someone look at her to verify? Even if that means they have to do it 1000 times to only find something like this once, isn't that worth not potentially destroying someone's life by delaying necessary treatment?
Seth Stoughton, a former police officer who is now a law professor at the University of South Carolina, said it can sometimes be hard for officers to tell whether a person’s behavior is a result of mental illness, substances or a medical episode. The latest training recommendations, he said, call for officers to be on the lookout for indicators of medical problems and to err on the side of calling in help if there is a potential health issue.
“Officers are not doctors, not paramedics,” he said. “They really don’t have, and are not expected to have, the expertise to diagnose what is causing medical distress. But they are supposed to be able to identify indicators.”
Regardless of the cause, it's still driving while impaired. I don't like or trust cops in the slightest, but it's legal and reasonable for them to give people DWI's for driving while sleep-deprived, on legally prescribed medication, etc., so why would it be unreasonable for them to give a ticket to someone driving while suffering a medical emergency? The only case I can think where this is really unreasonable is if the brain bleed started after she got into the car and she had not yet had an opportunity to pull over and call 911.
Like, it's not reasonable to cite someone for having a heart attack while behind the wheel, but if you get into a car after having a heart attack and while you still can't function, that's kind of the definition of "driving while impaired."
Police don’t charge anyone with anything.
Who needs charges when you can just suffocate them?