Gerhartz v. Richert

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In 2006, Gerhartz lost control of his vehicle on a rural Wisconsin highway and struck an oncoming car. The Calumet County Sheriff’s Department responded. Paramedic Katalinick, treating Gerhartz, told a deputy that he believed Gerhartz had been drinking alcohol. Sergeant Tyson instructed Richert to follow Gerhartz to the hospital. Tyson then spoke to Zeinert, a first responder and a bartender for a nearby Stockbridge bar. Zeinert stated that, earlier that evening, she had served Gerhartz “three or possibly four glasses of Bud Light beer” and that Gerhartz told her that he had smoked “too much pot tonight.” Tyson instructed Richert to arrest Gerhartz and to obtain a blood sample. At the hospital, Richert ordered, without a warrant, an evidentiary blood draw, pursuant to Wisconsin’s implied consent law. A technician conducted the blood draw about two hours after the accident. Gerhartz was unconscious. His blood-alcohol content was .243g/100ml. Gerhartz was later convicted of injury by intoxicated use of a motor vehicle and of operating a motor vehicle under the influence. Gerhartz sued under 42 U.S.C. 1983. The district court granted the officers summary judgment; the Seventh Circuit affirmed, holding that the natural dissipation of alcohol from Gerhartz’s bloodstream was an exigent circumstance sufficient to justify the warrantless blood draw. View "Gerhartz v. Richert" on Justia Law