In Florida, the police usually attempt to substantial a DUI (driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs) arrest by asking the suspect to take a breathalyzer test. This is a test normally administered at the jail only after the suspect has been arrested. The purpose of the test is never to determine if the suspect is impaired; it is always to secure more evidence against the suspect. In other words, if a DUI suspect agrees to submit to the breathalyzer test at the jail and blows under the Florida legal limit of 0.08, the police will not let that suspect go. On the other hand, if the suspect blows above 0.08, the state will always attempt to use that evidence against the suspect in court.
The police have other tests to try to create evidence. Sometimes, under certain circumstances, the police can take blood that is later tested for alcohol or drug content. There are specific rules that determine when a blood test is appropriate. The police can also request a urine test in certain situations. In a case just south of Jacksonville, Florida, after the suspect was arrested for DUI, the police officer asked if the suspect would submit to a breath or urine test. The suspect agreed to give the urine sample. The urine sample was given in a fairly private setting and under the supervision of a female police officer.
The criminal defense lawyer filed a motion to suppress the urine test results arguing that the police needed a search warrant to obtain a urine sample for a standard DUI case. The criminal defense attorney argued that giving a urine sample is an unnecessary invasion of a person’s privacy. The court noted that, unlike blood samples, which require a needle and puncture of the skin, giving a urine sample is a fairly non-intrusive process. On the other hand, a urine sample can be tested for a wide range of substances while breath can only be used to test alcohol content. The court agreed that giving a urine sample implicates a person’s right to privacy, however the state’s interest in obtaining evidence, whether that involved alcohol consumption or the use of drugs, outweighed those privacy interests. The court held that the police could request the urine sample without a search warrant since they had probable cause to arrest the suspect for DUI and allowed the state to use the urine test results against the defendant in court.