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State v. Nidiffer11/10/2004
The Carter County Criminal Court ruled that the state could not suspend the defendant's driver's license for one year pursuant to T.C.A. § 55- 10-406(a)(3), the implied consent law, because it found he was not under arrest when he refused to consent to a blood alcohol test. The state appeals, claiming that the trial court erred in holding that the defendant was not under arrest when the officers read him the implied consent form. We hold the defendant was under arrest, and we reverse the judgment of the trial court.
Tenn. R. App. P. 3 Appeal as of Right; Judgment of the Criminal Court Reversed, Case Remanded.
Appeal from the Criminal Court for Carter County No. S14939. Richard R. Baumgartner, Judge by Interchange.
Paul G. Summers, Attorney General and Reporter; Renee W. Turner, Assistant Attorney General; Joe C. Crumley, Jr., District Attorney General; and Robert H. Montgomery, Jr., Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellant, State of Tennessee.
William J. Byrd, Elizabethton, Tennessee, for the appellee, Carl Ray Nidiffer.
The opinion of the court was delivered by: Joseph M. Tipton, Judge
Assigned on Briefs September 28, 2004
Joseph M. Tipton, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which David H. Welles and John Everett Williams, JJ., joined.
OPINION
This case relates to the defendant's driving under the influence of alcohol. On December 23, 1998, the defendant collided with another car as he was driving on Elk Avenue in Elizabethton. Emergency personnel were called to the scene, and after they arrived, it took between fifteen and twenty minutes to extract the defendant from his car. The defendant was taken to the hospital where officers who were present at the scene of the accident read him the implied consent form in order to perform a blood alcohol test. The defendant refused to consent. Because the defendant was in the hospital, the arresting officers did not take him to a detention facility for formal processing procedures. However, he was eventually taken to a detention facility for processing. A Carter County Grand Jury indicted the defendant for driving under the influence of alcohol and violation of the implied consent statute. The defendant pled guilty to adult driving while impaired. Concerning the implied consent violation, the defendant asserted that he was not under arrest when he refused to consent and that his driver's license could not be suspended pursuant to T.C.A. § 55-10-406(a)(3).
The trial court held a hearing to determine whether the defendant was under arrest when the officers read him the implied consent form. Jason Whitehead testified that he responded to the accident as a member of the Carter County Emergency and Rescue Squad. He said that when he arrived at the scene, the defendant, who was alone in the car, was trapped inside. He said the defendant was alert and responsive to questions. He said that after an initial observation, he decided the defendant needed to be transported to the hospital. He said it took about twenty minutes to get the defendant out of his car. He said that he accompanied the defendant to the hospital. He said that the defendant had a "strong odor of alcohol about him," that the defendant was quite uncooperative during the trip to the hospital, and that the defendant would not allow him "to start an IV and also put supplementary oxygen on [the defendant]."
Mr. Whitehead testified that once they arrived at the hospital, he placed a rigid plastic cervical collar around the defendant's neck and that the defendant was placed on a spine board in order to keep him immobilized. He said the defendant was admitted as a trauma patient and pl
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