Opinion ID: 2521897
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: the police asked an apparently unimpaired ms. tripp to give a blood sample

Text: ¶ 3 Shortly after 7:00 p.m., West Jordan Police Officer Doug Saunders arrived at the scene of the crash. Upon his arrival, Ms. Tripp was sitting in her husband's car. Tripp's husband had arrived sometime earlier. Officer Saunders observed Ms. Tripp crying and shaking. She had a cigarette in her hand and a heavy odor of smoke about her. He did not observe any signs of impairment. Speaking to her from within three feet he did not smell any alcohol, nor could he detect any slurred speech. Officer Saunders asked Ms. Tripp to fill out some paperwork. She returned the paperwork properly completed. When he asked Ms. Tripp if she had consumed any alcohol or taken any prescription medications, she replied, No. Officer Saunders later admitted that he had no reason to disbelieve Ms. Tripp. ¶ 4 As a matter of practice in serious investigations, and not based on any particularized suspicion, Officer Saunders wanted to rule out impairment. Officer Saunders asked Ms. Tripp to submit to a blood draw. Ms. Tripp told him that she was afraid of needles and did not want her blood drawn with one. When Officer Saunders asked Ms. Tripp if she would submit to a urinalysis, she said she would, but Officer Saunders never administered the test. ¶ 5 At 7:30 p.m., Cecilia Budd, a victim advocate in the employ of West Jordan City, arrived at the scene. She spent roughly two hours with Ms. Tripp. When Ms. Budd first made contact with Ms. Tripp, Ms. Tripp was still sitting in her husband's car. Ms. Budd testified that she smelled alcohol in the husband's car when she poked her head through the window but was not sure where the odor came from. Ms. Budd told Ms. Tripp that she was there to support her. Ms. Budd testified that she reported the odor of alcohol in the husband's car to an officer. ¶ 6 Ms. Budd observed that Ms. Tripp was very upset and cried most of the time and that her crying was like a roller coaster. She also saw Ms. Tripp smoke one cigarette because, according to Ms. Tripp, it calmed her down. ¶ 7 At 8:05 p.m., Detective Daniel Roberts arrived at the scene to investigate the expected death. Officer Saunders delegated the task of obtaining Ms. Tripp's blood sample to Detective Roberts. Detective Roberts acknowledged that Officer Saunders did not identify any probable cause justifying a blood draw. Rather, as Detective Roberts understood, the blood draw was standard procedure for an accident involving a death and that if a death was involved he could force the blood draw. ¶ 8 When Detective Roberts asked Ms. Tripp to consent to a blood draw, she refused. She told him that she would only give blood if no needle were used. Detective Roberts knew of no way to obtain blood without a needle. Nonetheless, in the span of about forty-five minutes, Detective Roberts requested three times that Ms. Tripp consent to a blood draw. In at least one of these requests, Detective Roberts was accompanied by two other officers. Ms. Tripp consistently refused to a blood draw by needle, but she again told the officers she would submit to a urinalysis. Nonetheless, the officers never administered a urinalysis, performed any field sobriety tests, or sought a warrant for a blood draw. ¶ 9 When speaking with Ms. Tripp, Detective Roberts was about three to four feet away from her. He did not detect any odor of alcohol. He did observe, however, that her eyes were red. He did not see any tears, and no one told him that she had cried. She was shaking and seemed to be nervous. However, Detective Roberts testified that the more he visited with Ms. Tripp, the more concerned he became that Ms. Tripp was perhaps impaired. Specifically, he observed that the redness in her eyes did not dissipate and she did not cry, she lacked concern for the victim of the accident, and she continually smoked. ¶ 10 With this concern in mind, Detective Roberts asked the victim advocates, Cecilia Budd and Diana Greives, to talk with Ms. Tripp in order to calm her down and to help her become more relaxed to the idea of having a blood draw. Ms. Budd testified that persuading Ms. Tripp to submit to the blood test was not [her] job. Nevertheless, she explained to Ms. Tripp that she had seen the blood technician draw blood and that he was good, very gentle, and that Ms. Tripp did not have to look at the needle.