Court Opinion

ID: 9702208
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 23:00:52.220043+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:10:34.079744
License: Public Domain

CAVANAUGH, Judge,
dissenting:
I respectfully dissent.
75 Pa.C.S.A. § 1547(b) requires that the police officer inform a person under arrest for driving under the influence that his operator’s privileges will be suspended upon refusal to submit to the testing before he is subjected to the chemical testing. (Pa.C.S.A. § 1547(b)(2)). The defendant *185is thus faced with an informed choice. The law further requires that if the person under arrest is requested to submit to chemical testing and refuses to do so — “the testing shall not be conducted.” I would read this statute’s plain words to restrict the police efforts to have one already under arrest submit to chemical testing limited to a single request and refusal. I believe that repeated requests after a refusal would, under the circumstances, be far more likely interpreted as coercion rather than benevolence.