Minors in Michigan not required to submit random breath tests

Kalamazoo is joining the growing list of Michigan cities that is aiming to strike down required random breath testing for minors.

Currently, any person under the age of 21 in the city may be required to submit a test just because a safety officer suspects the person may have been drinking. The initiative to change the rule is coming from City Attorney Clyde Robinson. Robinson is hoping the law will change from a required test to a requested test. Officers would have to give minors the opportunity to say "no;" of course, this is only if the person has not been driving.

Officers would have to inform minors of their rights to refuse a test if they requested one under the proposed policy. Troy and Bay City, Michigan, have had to adopt a similar procedure because courts determined the required breath test did not hold up to personal liberty laws. In Troy, a court determined mandatory breath tests for minors not driving a car constituted unreasonable search & seizure and were a violation of the Fourth Amendment.

The recommended change has passed a first reading last week. The Commissioners for the city should make a decision by early November. The decision will not have a significant impact on the city's officials, but safety officers will have to be retrained on the proper way to request a test from a minor.


Source

Drivers treated and released after accident on West Conway

An Alanson woman and Bay City man were treated and released at Northern Michigan Regional Hospital Wednesday following a two-vehicle accident on West Conway Road in Harbor Springs.

According to Lt. Mike Kaiser with the Emmet County Sheriff's Department, around 11:41 a.m. 26-year-old Jessica Kenyon of Alanson was driving her 1997 Chrysler Sebring east along West Conway Road near Moeller Drive when she was hit on her rear driver's side while attempting to make a left-hand turn.

Kaiser said 18-year-old Brett Wesenick of Bay City, who was driving a 2006 GMC Sierra truck with an attached trailer for Shaw Contracting Co., out of Kawkawlin, who was also driving east on West Conway, and failed to yield for Kenyon's vehicle.

Kaiser said Wesenick's vehicle hit Kenyon's vehicle on its rear, driver's side, and rolled over in a ditch near the westbound lane.

"I don't really know why his truck rolled - probably something from the ditch that made him overturn," he said.

Kaiser said he is unsure of Wesenick's speed at the time of the accident, but said the Bay City man has been ticketed.

"We issued a ticket to Wesenick for violation of basic speed law," Kaiser said. "As a driver, you're required to maintain control of your vehicle, and he didn't."

Although both drivers wore seat belts, they were still transported to Northern Michigan Regional Hospital, where they were treated and released for minor injuries.


Source