Police Want Your Blood at DUI Checkpoints
It’s one of Hollywood’s famous misquotes. “I want to suck your blood.” Bela Lugosi who played Dracula in 1931 never said it. It was used in Tim Burton’s 1994 film Ed Wood.
It seems there is some real blood sucking going on, and it’s not just politicians wanting to raise our taxes so they can redistribute our hard-earned money to people who do not work so they can get re-elected.
If you are driving in Tennessee over the Labor Day weekend and come to a road block, be ready to give up some of your blood.
You can avoid the check points by going to a link that will tell you where they will be. Supposedly this makes such unconstitutional acts constitutional: “As long as we tell you where we are going to violate your rights and take your property (blood), it’s all legal, just, and right.”
I’m against drunk driving, but randomly testing people by taking their blood with no probable cause is not the way our justice system is supposed to work. Maybe police should search every person going into a bank so they can determine if there is anybody who might have an intent to rob it. Maybe I shouldn’t write this. It might given them ideas.
I think we should send the Tennessee police to the border with Mexico and have them check IDs. That’s a better and more constitutional use of their efforts.
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Tennessee has a new Labor Day tradition. According to WKRN-TV, the Tennessee Highway Patrol will continue its “no refusal” blood-extraction DUI checkpoints this Labor Day weekend, starting on midnight on August 29 and continuing until midnight on September 1. Under “no refusal” enforcement, suspected drunk drivers will be forced to submit to a breathalyzer or blood test, even if they refuse.
The Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security issued a press release on this weekend’s crackdown, saying, “State troopers will conduct ‘No Refusal’ enforcement in the following counties: Union (Knoxville District); Hamilton and Marion (Chattanooga District); Montgomery (Nashville District); Shelby (Memphis District); Hawkins (Fall Branch District); Smith (Cookeville); Maury (Lawrenceburg); and Hardin County (Jackson District).” The press release also describes how police coverage will work over the weekend, “In addition to ‘No Refusal’ enforcement, highway patrol personnel will also conduct driver’s license, sobriety and seat belt checkpoints, as well as saturation patrols and bar and tavern checks.”
Due to the disputed constitutionality of police checkpoints, Tennessee state law requires that their locations be publicly announced in advance so that Tennesseans who don’t want to be inconvenienced can adjust their routes. The locations of this weekend’s checkpoints can be found at this link.
Read the rest of the story here.