Quote:
Originally Posted by RainMaker
In shootings, even justifiable ones, it is common to test the shooter to make sure they were not high or drunk. Multiple cops from multiple cities have been on TV or in the paper stating this is standard procedure. When an officer shoots someone, they do the same thing too. Now I'm guessing Zimmerman could reject the request, although I don't think it would take much for them to get the legal authority to do so.
As for Martin, he couldn't consent because he was dead. They did run a full toxicology report on his corpse though.
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Dead people don't have fourth amendment rights, and officers probably consent to drug tests as a condition of their employment, but I honestly don't know if officers can perform a forced drug test on any criminal suspect, or any homicide suspect specifically (if it's not vehicular manslaughter). My two minute westlaw search came up short, (as did my search of white supremacist blogs where I get most of my information.) But in any event, the officers can always ask, and they should have here, so I was asking if they did, and if it was refused (which of course, would be a pretty good indicator that he was on something) I was also asking if we definitively know that no drug tests were performed, or if that's just an assumption based on the fact that there are no results released publicly. If Zimmerman was tested and tested positive for meth, cocaine, and heroin, I'm not sure they're allowed to release that publicly. But if the Sheriff's department came out and said they didn't try to test him, I just missed that.