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Your body is not your own; it belongs to the state
// Personal Liberty Digest™
How can America be considered the land of the free when police can extract a urine or blood sample against your will?
While there is a multitude of case law regarding the 4th Amendment and searches of persons, vehicles and dwellings, there is little on the books regarding what police can do to the human body.
In March of 2009, Jamie Lockhard was pulled over in Lawrenceburg, Indiana by a police officer who said Lockhard failed to stop at a stop sign. Officers suspected Lockhard had been drinking so they had him take a breathalyzer test. It registered .07; .01 under the legal limit. Not satisfied with the breathalyzer results, police obtained a search warrant for blood and urine samples and transported Lockhard to a nearby hospital.
Lockhard cooperated and allowed a nurse to take a blood sample. But he claimed he was unable to produce a urine sample. Believing he was just being uncooperative, police took Lockhard to an emergency room where he was handcuffed to a bed, his feet were held down by two officers and he was catheterized by an ER nurse.
This practice is becoming more and more common as police in many states are now using forced catheterization following traffic stops. In these states at least — Indiana, South Dakota, Utah, Washington and Idaho — police have taken uncooperative DUI suspects to medical facilities where they were catheterized against their will (and often without anesthesia) in order to obtain urine samples to determine their alcohol level. And it was not always done with a search warrant.
There have been several lawsuits filed over this. Some have been thrown out because police have "qualified immunity" from lawsuits; and some have been settled. But high courts have yet to rule on whether this is a violation of the 4th Amendment rights of individuals.
Lockhard, whose blood sample revealed a blood alcohol level of .05 – well below the threshold for a DUI charge – pleaded guilty to reckless driving and received a suspended sentence. He later sued the police officers who assaulted his body and the city of Lawrenceburg only to see his suit thrown out by a federal judge who ruled that police had qualified immunity. In his ruling, the judge claimed the officers' actions fell into "nebulous territory" of legality.
Forced catheterization is police state terrorism and barbarism. Don't believe it? Read this description of catheterization by Medscape. It is not a fit practice for a free and civilized society.
Related reading:
How the 'law and order' crowd surrenders its liberty
The police and culture problem
Cops are trained liars, and courts have sanctioned the practice
Would privatized police be better police?
Cops can enforce nonexistent laws with impunity
The post Your body is not your own; it belongs to the state appeared first on Personal Liberty®.
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