News

Park Ridge to test DUI blood samples

Buncombe County D.A. Ron Moore and Park Ridge CEO Jimm Bunch look on as state Sen. Jim Davis talks about blood sample agreement. [Photo by Matt Matteson]

By Matt Matteson, Published: March 24, 2014

FLETCHER — Park Ridge Health is entering into agreements with local prosecutors to process blood alcohol samples taken by law enforcement officers, speeding up the process and potentially helping to catch up on a backlog of cases.

District Attorney Ron Moore of Buncombe County announced that the Fletcher hospital had signed a contract with his office that could ease the backlog of some 250 WNC blood samples stored in state labs awaiting processing.
"Ninety percent of DUI convictions are made with blood tests compared to only 60 percent without," he said. "Getting quicker convictions will make our roadways safer."
District Attorney Greg Newman of Judicial District 29B, covering Henderson, Polk and Transylvania counties, said his office will also use Park Ridge under a contract that his office is expected to sign soon.
"Statewide, few hospitals have taken the step that Park Ridge has just taken," said Newman, who serves on a statewide task force on DWI prosecution.
The Buncombe County District Attorney's office, unable to reach an agreement with Mission Hospital in Asheville, pitched the concept to Park Ridge. CEO Jimm Bunch said Park Ridge was happy to partner with prosecutors.
"By speeding up the process, this partnership will make our community much safer," Bunch said.
In a bill aimed at reducing the large backlog of samples awaiting lab tests statewide, State Sen. Jim Davis of Franklin sponsored legislation that allows hospitals to do the blood alcohol lab testing under contract.
"It is important that we expedite the lab testing process but also that we remember the families of victims of drunk drivers," Davis said.
Under the agreement, law officers would bring a batch of blood samples to the hospital lab and wait for some 90 minutes for the testing to be conducted, Bunch said. The officers would take the samples and the lab report back with them. This system would minimize the hospital's liability and reduce the chain of custody of the samples.
Moore said that it was unlikely that hospital lab technicians would be required to testify in court but because the use of hospital labs is new judges would likely set the precedent.
The contracts with the two prosecution offices will likely be a short term solution. Last year the General Assembly provided planning money for a $14 million forensics lab on the campus of the Justice Academy in Edneyville that will serve 30 western counties. After the Edneyville crime lab is built the Ashville lab will close. The new state crime lab should speed up testing, officials said.