Court Opinion

ID: 9721150
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 08:49:28.499317+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:24:23.572165
License: Public Domain

PUGLIA, P. J.
—I concur. As I read the statute, it plainly contemplates that there may be occasions when “no” does not mean “no,” i.e., when an express refusal to submit to a chemical test is not a withdrawal of the consent to such testing implied in the act of driving a motor vehicle. That is the effect of Vehicle Code section 23157, subdivision (a)(5) (hereafter section 23157) which reads in relevant part: “Any person who is unconscious or otherwise in a condition rendering him or her incapable of refusal is deemed not to have withdrawn his or her consent and a test or tests may be administered whether or not the person is told that his or her failure to submit to, or the noncompletion of, the test or tests will result in the suspension or revocation of his or her privilege to operate a motor vehicle. . . .” (Italics added.)
Serious injury to the head, even though not causing sustained unconsciousness, may nevertheless render the injured person incapable of refusal within the meaning of section 23157. In that circumstance, the determination whether an articulated refusal of a chemical test is volitional or not involves a medical judgment beyond the ken of the arresting officer. In most if not all such cases, however, the fact of head trauma, if not its effect on the injured individual, is objectively ascertainable by a trained officer through observable injury, the conduct of the accident victim, the surrounding circumstances or a combination of these.
Here the respondent lost control of his motorcycle while travelling at 45 miles per hour, was thrown off and crashed into a fence. He was not wearing a helmet. The arresting officer was informed of these facts when he arrived on the scene. He was also told by a witness that respondent had been *769rendered unconscious for several minutes after the accident. When the officer talked to respondent, he was alternately responsive and irrational. A paramedic at the scene advised the officer that despite the lack of observable trauma to that area, injury to the head was a possibility. In his testimony at the administrative hearing, the officer acknowledged a possibility of head injury arose simply from the circumstances of the accident. He had been taught that persons suspected of sustaining head injury should be taken to a doctor. He had also been taught that some of the symptoms of head trauma are similar to those displayed by one under the influence. The officer formed the opinion the respondent was under the influence and arrested him for violation of Vehicle Code section 23152, subdivision (a).1
The officer did not secure medical treatment for respondent but took him to jail. There, respondent was advised of the consequences of refusal and asked to submit to a chemical test. Respondent replied, “I’m not taking any test—just let me go. I’ll show you something too cool man.” The officer took this for the refusal which it appeared on its face to be and, without attempting to administer a test as he might have done, relied instead on the sanction of license suspension under the implied consent law.
Few would argue with the officer’s choice of remedies under these circumstances. Moreover, with the benefit of hindsight, few can fail to appreciate the dilemma in which the officer found himself. But it was a dilemma largely of his own making. Had the officer secured immediate medical treatment for respondent, as the objective circumstances and the officer’s own training indicated he should have done, implementation of the implied consent law would likely have been informed and guided by expert medical judgment as to respondent’s volitional capability and, if a chemical test was to be administered, the best way to proceed.
With nothing more than his own training and experience to rely on, an arresting officer is not capable of going behind a straightforward, express refusal to submit to chemical testing in order to calibrate its volitional quality. That is a matter for medical professionals. But trained officers, in the careful discharge of their duties, will appreciate the circumstances indicative of possible head injuries and, in acting to secure medical attention for the accident victim, consult with and benefit from the counsel of medical professionals. For those reasons, I do not share the Attorney General’s concern that the interpretation of section 23157 which we adopt today *770(which by its terms we are obliged to do) will inevitably lead to more violent confrontations between officers and physically injured motorists suspected of driving under the influence.
However, a caveat is in order. If, consistent with section 23157, medical experts may now testify at administrative license suspension hearings that a licensee was rendered incapable of refusing a chemical test by virtue of physical trauma, can those experts who minister to psychological and emotional trauma be far behind? Unlike physical injury, as to the head, there are no reliable indicia of psychological trauma available to an officer in the field who suspects a motorist of driving under the influence. The officer can infer head injury from a bleeding, lacerated cranium or, as here, from the fact the unhelmeted accident victim careened head first into a fence. But how can he discern a psyche scarred by, e.g., schizophrenia, or draw an inference from a concatenation of personally devastating events (e.g., loss of job, dissolution of marriage) of which he is not even aware? It may be confidently anticipated that there are experts for hire who would opine, after the fact of course, that conditions such as these diminished or destroyed a motorist’s volition.
Administrative hearings under the implied consent law are informal, and advisedly so. Greater formality would exact from the state and the litigants substantially additional time and expense multiplied by the large number of such hearings across the state. While informality may serve the public interest in the typical case, it does not necessarily do so in cases where incapacity to refiise testing is in issue. In the administrative hearing in this case, the only persons present were the respondent licensee, his counsel, the arresting officer and the hearing officer. Respondent produced as an expert witness a neurologist who testified essentially that respondent’s head injuries rendered him incapable of refusing a chemical test. ITie neurologist was not subjected to cross-examination nor did the DMV offer expert testimony in rebuttal. From all that appears, DMV had no notice respondent would offer expert testimony on the issue of incapacity. To note that the testimony of respondent’s expert was wholly unchallenged implies no opinion on its quality or character. But in matters as important as these the opportunity to challenge and to rebut should be available. That opportunity could be afforded by conditioning the use of expert testimony on the requirement of advance notice to DMV sufficient to allow DMV to involve counsel in the *771proceedings and, if advised, to secure rebuttal testimony. Of course, such a requirement would have to be imposed by the Legislature.
A petition for a rehearing was denied November 22, 1991, and appellant’s petition for review by the Supreme Court was denied February 13, 1992. Arabian, 1, and Baxter, J„ were of the opinion that the petition should be granted.

The officer detected the odor of alcohol on respondent’s breath, respondent staggered, his speech was slurred, his eyes were watery, bloodshot and demonstrated lateral nystagmus. These observations, in combination with the other information he acquired at the accident scene, gave the officer probable cause for the arrest. The fact remains, however, that an accident victim who is under the influence may also have sustained head injury.