When two-time Olympic gold medalist Jack Shea was killed in a drunken driving accident in 2002, the prosecution was unable to charge the alleged drunk driver because of a legal loophole.
That loophole officially closed on Monday, July 12.
Governor David A. Paterson signed legislation that will immediately permit certified nurse practitioners and advanced emergency medical technicians to draw blood without direct physician supervision from motorists who are suspected of driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
“Advanced emergency medical technicians draw blood all the time without direct supervision from a doctor and this measure simply brings the legal standard for withdrawal of blood in drunken and impaired driving cases into conformity with standard medical practice,” said Paterson. “Jack Shea’s Law will close a loophole that allowed several guilty individuals to evade justice.”
Prior to the new law, if a police officer asked medical personnel to draw blood from a suspected impaired driver following an accident, and the physician did not directly supervise the procedure, the evidence was inadmissible.
In Shea’s case, tests revealed that the impaired driver had blood alcohol content nearly twice the legal limit. He was indicted for vehicular manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and driving while intoxicated. But since his blood was drawn without a physician’s supervision, the evidence was suppressed and the charges were dismissed.
The passage of the Jack Shea Bill comes on the heels of Leandra’s Law, which Paterson signed into law last fall. The law made it a felony to drive drunk with a child in the car, and as of August 15, it will require everyone convicted of a misdemeanor or felony drunken driving offense – even first time offenders – to install and maintain an ignition interlock device in any vehicle they drive.
“Over the past year, with Leandra’s Law and other initiatives, I have fought to deter drunken driving and to appropriately penalize those who get behind the wheel of a car while under the influence of alcohol or drugs,” said Paterson.
