Dump truck driver arrested after gas-dash
3/22/08
Bellingham Herald, WA

__________________



The Truckers Report Merchandise

That guy was just waiting to kill someone....good job they got him! Thats all we need is a 35k lbs. truck rolling down main with a twisted driver behind the wheel.

I really wish I could find a bit more detail about this.

I'm really interested in HOW Police got this blood sample at the scene. Especially with our current laws regarding invasive proceedures and qualifying requirements.

I'm glad they got the guy. But it may be for naught.

__________________
.
I'm gonna kill the next SOB who tells me I look stressed out.

--Unknown

If they got a signed permission form, he's caught cold. In Colorado, you have the option breath or blood. If you opt blood, you can NOT back out and opt for breath test. (these rules are, apparently, pretty much standard nation wide - with minor niggles here and there)

If you fail to sign the permission for, it's "refusal" and you automatically lose your license for a year. The penalty is significantly heavier if you are driving a CMV at the time of the stop.

In other words, if there's alcohol in his blood, he's unemployed and on foot. No way to wiggle out of it, since those permission forms have been upheld in court forever.

What you say is very true. But, I still question the chain of events.

It could have been a dumb reporter. But, as far as I know. NO Police Officer is trained or certified to draw blood.

I question this, only in regard to the story. And my knowledge of safe medical practices that require extra qualifications. Limited though it is, I do know for a fact, that the LPN's in our area were "certified" to draw blood, only in the most recent past.

It is classified as an invasive proceedure. And subject to a LOT of Federal Laws.

I doubt seriously any Officer drew blood. But the story implies that.

__________________
.
I'm gonna kill the next SOB who tells me I look stressed out.

--Unknown

Some of the police officers where I live are volunteer paramedics and are certified to draw blood. However, they are restricted to the back of the ambulance for these types of procedures.

My s/o and I were getting ready for bed when we were notified by our roommate that there was a suspicious man in a big truck out front.

There was a 6 or 10 wheel International dump truck backed in to the small parking lot of the adjacent thrift shop (Second Chance West 4724 Pacific Highway, which runs parallel to I-5).

My s/o told the guy to come back at 10 the next morning (it was about 1:00 a.m., just a few hours before he did the fuel-n-go). Looking out the window my s/o sees the guy pick up a bicycle from the patio and try to lift it into the back of the truck.

I called 9-1-1.

S/o backed our 70's p/u about 10 feet, which then blocked the exit. Truck driver demanded that the p/u be moved or he'd ram it. We stood in front of our truck, as he backed up and threatened to run us over if we didn't get the truck and move out of the way...I wasn't too smart to stand there, however, I was hoping that I'd be unhindered if he started coming closer.

He then got out of the truck, again trying to explain to us that he was there to pick up items that he had made arrangements with a salesperson earlier - He said that he told them that he worked nights and would have to come late to pick items up.

I asked him what the salesperson looked like. His description didn't match ANYONE who worked around the store.

S/o went inside the house to get one of the roommates, who works at the store. While he was inside, the truck driver (who as far as I knew had stolen the dump truck) - got inside our old truck. I asked him to get out, he tried to start it up; I pulled on him, he began to elbow me away. I began punching him in the head and yelling for help.

S/o comes out of the house and I'm not sure exactly what happened other than the truck driver was on top of him and they were fighting. My s/o hadn't tied his army style boots, so in the tussle one of them fell off, I picked it up and was hitting the truck driver in the head with the boot.

Our 80# lab came outside and attacked the truck driver who was on top of s/o.

Truck driver was screaming to call the dog off.

The next thing I know the driver and I were throwing punches and he had ripped my night clothes and I ended up in a mud puddle.

Eventually, the truck driver got into his truck, plowed our truck into the street and took off.

Whatcom Sheriff's and/or Bellingham Police pulled the guy over up the street and they said that they wrote him appearance tickets for 2 assaults, hit and run and they told us that they released the driver and his truck.

The next morning I told a friend about the incident and she told me about the article in the paper. When we tried to get the driver's insurance information, we were told that we'd have to go to the DA because he'd been arrested and I asked if it was Dekubber, and was told Yes.

My presumption about the blood test - is that when they initially pulled him over, he denied medical help for his dog bites (which the officers stated the dog had gotten him pretty good). On his next adventure, he may have requested an ambulance for his wounds and one was brought to the scene and blood was drawn at that time.

I too was wondering about the blood tests. I thought that perhaps there was something special for persons with CDLs. I can pretty much tell that ya'all aren't familiar with the technique, so that brings some clarity to me that whoever wrote the article didn't formulate it with many facts.