Legal Question in DUI Law in Colorado

Re: DUI - minor injury accident - police gave refusal

I am doing an appeal,in District Court, on a case similar to your brother's case now. In my opinion the question should be at what point your brother asked to take the breath test and how severe his injury was. Did he request treatement. Was the injury sufficiently minor that treatment at a hospital was not necessary?

Re: DUI - minor injury accident - police gave refusal

As the other attorneys indicated, there is an issue here and it needs careful attention. None of us can advise you without a full review of the facts. Get the police reports and go see an attorney very quickly.

Re: DUI - minor injury accident - police gave refusal

You do have the right to choose between breath or blood testing, but there's kind of a Catch-22 involved when the request is made at a medical facility where the driver has been taken for treatment. If there is no state-certified breath-testing equipment available at the hospital, the breath option doesn't exist, and refusal to allow a blood test does legally count as a refusal.

The more interesting question in your brother-in-law's case is whether he was under arrest when the police asked him to take the blood test. If he was taken to the hospital only for treatment, and had not at that point been arrested, the police were not permitted to ask for the blood alcohol test.

In that case there would be no refusal, because the request was not legal.

Good luck.