Legal Question in DUI Law in Iowa

16 year old given a breathalizer without parents consent

16 year old was pulled over for a license plate in the front window cops gave child a breathalizer and he blew .079 they put him in handcuffs then in the back of police car he was kicking the inside of the car and the police took him back out and wrestled him to the ground while in handcuffs and maced him and beat him he has a boot print on his back and a scrape on his arm from the fence he got pushed into before hitting the ground and choke marks on his neck from a flashlight. his parents were not called before he was given the breathalizer and he was told if he didn't sign the consent form he was going to lose his license for a year. Did they have the right to pull the child out of the cop car and mace him after handcuffing and putting him in the cop car. Shouldn't the police have conntacted the parents before the breathalizer or before the child signed the consent. Another kid that was with the child called the parent the police never once called the parent or the owner of the vehicle. child was not charged with dui because he was under the limit but had an administrative dui where he loses his license for 60 days. the entire incident was caught on video and we have a copy of the video.


Asked on 8/19/07, 7:10 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Robert Luedeman solo practitioner

Re: 16 year old given a breathalizer without parents consent

They can use reasonable force to subdue a suspect who isn't cooperating. You can't expect the cops to pussyfoot around with someone who's trying to wreck their police car.

The real question is what you want to do about all this and whether he's sustained any personal injury after this ill advised excursion.

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Answered on 8/20/07, 9:10 am


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