State, Dept. of Motor Vehicles v. McElwain, 42204

• Decision Date: 11 May 1972
• Docket Number: No. 42204,42204
• Citation: 80 Wn.2d 624,496 P.2d 963
• Parties: The STATE of Washington, DEPARTMENT OF MOTOR VEHICLES, Respondent, v. Dennis L. McELWAIN, Appellant.
• Court: Washington Supreme Court

Page 624

80 Wn.2d 624

496 P.2d 963

The STATE of Washington, DEPARTMENT OF MOTOR VEHICLES, Respondent, v. Dennis L. McELWAIN, Appellant.

No. 42204.

Supreme Court of Washington, En Banc.

May 11, 1972.

Siderius, Lonergan & Crowley, Patrick W. Crowley, Seattle, for appellant.

Slade Gorton, Atty. Gen., John H. Keith, Olympia, for respondent.

ROSELLINI, Associate Justice.

The question before the court in this case is: Does RCW 46.20 prevent the revocation of a motor vehicle operator's license if the operator, although conscious, is intoxicated to such a degree that he is incapable of refusing to take the breath test as provided for in that statute? Our conclusion is that it does not.

The statute in question, the 'Implied Consent Law,' adopted through the initiative procedure in 1969, provides in RCW 46.20.308(1):

Any person who operates a motor vehicle upon the public highways of this state shall be deemed to have given consent, subject to the provisions of RCW 46.61.506, to a chemical test or tests of his breath or blood for the purpose of determining the alcoholic content of his blood if arrested for any offense where, at the time of the arrest, the arresting officer has reasonable grounds to believe the person had been driving or was in actual physical control of a motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicating liquor. The test or tests shall be administered at the direction of a law enforcement officer having reasonable grounds to believe the person to have been driving or in actual physical control of a motor vehicle upon the public highways of this state while under the influence of intoxicating liquor. Such officer shall inform the person of his right to refuse the test, and of his right to have additional tests administered by any qualified person of his choosing as provided in RCW 46.61.506. The officer shall warn the driver that his privilege to drive will be revoked or denied if he refuses to submit to the test. Unless the person to be tested is unconscious, the chemical test administered shall be of his breath only.

This court has heretofore been called upon to construe this statute. In Connolly v. Department of Motor Vehicles, 79 Wash.2d 500, 487 P.2d 1050 (1971), we held that the statute requires that an operator be informed not only that he has a right to refuse to take the test, but also that he has a right to have additional tests administered; and that if this advice is not given, an operator's license may not be revoked for refusal to take the test. The appellant in this case relies upon certain language which we quoted, taken from the opinion of the Court of Appeals of Ohio in the case of Couch v. Rice, 52 Ohio Op.2d 184, 23 Ohio App.2d 160, 261 N.E.2d 187 (Ohio App.1970) which was a case in which a similar statute was being construed to determine whether the arresting officer was required to advise the operator of his right to have additional tests administered.

The quoted language was to the effect that, under the statute, a refusal must have been 'knowingly and intelligently' made, after proper advice of the operator's rights under the statute. The Ohio Court of Appeals and the Ohio Supreme Court have subsequently held that the right to be advised is a statutory right, and not a constitutional right, and that it can be waived. State v. Mohr, 55 Ohio Op.2d 455, 26 Ohio St.2d 204, 271 N.E.2d 254 (Ohio St.1971); State v. McDonald, 54 Ohio Op.2d 6, 25 Ohio App.2d 6, 265 N.E.2d 793 (Ohio App.1970). The question whether an operator must be sober enough to understand the advice given him was not before the Ohio courts in any of those cases, nor was it before this court in Connolly v. Department of Motor Vehicles, Supra. That question was brought before the Ohio Supreme Court in Hoban v. Rice, 54 Ohio Op.2d 254, 25 Ohio St.2d 111, 267 N.E.2d 311 (1971), and that court held that a refusal could not later be disavowed on grounds that the operator was at the time 'too drunk to understand.'

A perusal of the Ohio cases as well as cases from other jurisdictions, will show that the question is everywhere regarded as one of statutory construction. ¹

We need not look to cases from other jurisdictions however, in order to arrive at the intent expressed in RCW 46.20.308. We think the language of the quoted provision (read in conjunction with subsections (2) and (3) of that section) expresses a clear intent that any operator who is arrested by an officer having reasonable grounds to believe that he is intoxicated must either submit to a test for blood alcohol content or be subject to a license revocation.

Subsection (2) provides that if a person is unconscious or otherwise incapable of refusing consent, he shall be deemed not to have withdrawn the consent provided in the first subsection. It provides that the test shall be administered, and subsection (1) authorizes the use of the blood test where the operator is unconscious. The appellant in this case does not suggest that he was unconscious within the meaning of subsection (2). It is not his position that the arresting officer had a right to administer a blood test or even that the appellant was so intoxicated that such a test could have been administered without opposition by him.

Subsection (3) provides for the revocation of the operator's license where he refuses to submit to the test or tests.

It seems clear that the intent of the statute is that the test will be administered in every case where the officer has reasonable grounds to believe that the operator is under the influence of intoxicating liquor, except where the test is refused. The appellant would have us read into the act an exception where the operator is not unconscious but...