POLICE CAN'T REQUIRE DRUG TESTS WITHOUT SUSPICION OF INTOXICATION

ATLANTA -- A driver who tested positive for cocaine during a head-on
collision will get a new trial after the Georgia Supreme Court threw out
his conviction Monday because the law is flawed.

Carey Don Cooper had cocaine in his bloodstream on Aug. 11, 2000, when he
swerved into the path of another car on the Atlanta Highway in Barrow
County. Since the other driver suffered a broken arm, a trooper gave Cooper
the choice between a routine blood test for drugs or loss of his license -
even though neither driver appeared to be intoxicated.

Cooper agreed to the test and wound up convicted of a misdemeanor drug
charge after it turned up positive. Then he appealed.

In the appeal, the court ruled the state's so-called "implied consent" law
cannot require a driver to submit to a blood test for illegal drugs or
alcohol unless a law-enforcement officer suspects intoxication. Until
Monday's decision, police officers had been allowed to get the tests from
any driver involved in an accident resulting in serious injuries.

Cooper's attorney predicted the ruling would affect many cases.

Yet, to some, the court was wrong.

"I don't think it violates anybody's rights," said Sam Patl, manager of
Oxford Cleaners in Winder. "If I got nothing to hide, then I should not
have a problem."

The law centered on the assumption that in exchange for the ability to
drive, a person had to agree to drug and alcohol tests after serious
wrecks. Normally, the constitution prohibits such tests without a warrant
from a judge who has determined police had probable cause for suspecting a
law was broken. But this law said that by driving a person has implied that
he or she consents to the tests.

In Cooper's case, the seven justices concluded that driving is so important
to most people that they will feel compelled to submit to a blood test -
which courts consider an invasive "search." Since the Fourth Amendment of
the U.S. Constitution outlaws unreasonable searches, the court threw out
his conviction and ordered a new trial.

Cooper's attorney, William D. "Billy" Healan III, said that the decision
reins in the police from abusing the rights of even people like his client
who happened to have ingested illegal drugs.

"If you take drugs, you still have the constitutional right against
unreasonable searches and seizures," said Healan, who practices in Winder.

Barrow County District Attorney Tim Madison didn't return a call seeking a
comment, so it's not yet known when or if Cooper would be retried.

The decision will require police, deputies and troopers to change their
procedures when investigating accidents with injuries, said Frank Rotondo,
executive director the Georgia Association of Chiefs of Police.

"I would have to concur with the judge's decision on that. It sounds like
it might be anti-law enforcement, but it's not," Rotondo said. "Sometimes
when you get rulings like this, it results in stronger laws."