(A) Any person who holds a commercial driver's license or operates a commercial motor vehicle requiring a commercial driver's license within this state shall be deemed to have given consent to a test or tests of the person's whole blood, blood serum or plasma, breath, or urine for the purpose of determining the person's alcohol concentration or the presence of any controlled substance.
(B) A test or tests as provided in division (A) hereof may be administered at the direction of a peace officer having reasonable ground to stop or detain the person and, after investigating the circumstances surrounding the operation of the commercial motor vehicle, also having reasonable ground to believe the person was driving the commercial vehicle while having a measurable or detectable amount of alcohol or of a controlled substance in the person's whole blood, blood serum or plasma, breath, or urine. Any such test shall be given within two hours of the time of the alleged violation.
(C) A person requested to submit to a test under division (A) hereof shall be advised by the peace officer requesting the test that a refusal to submit to the test will result in the person immediately being placed out-of-service for a period of 24 hours and being disqualified from operating a commercial motor vehicle for a period of not less than one year, and that the person is required to surrender the person's commercial driver's license to the peace officer.
(D) If a person refuses to submit to a test after being warned as provided in division (C) hereof or submits to a test that discloses the presence of a controlled substance, an alcohol concentration of four-hundredths of one percent or more by whole blood or breath, and alcohol concentration of forty-eight-thousandths of one percent or more by blood serum or blood plasma, or an alcohol concentration of fifty-six-thousandths of one percent or more by urine, the person immediately shall surrender the person's commercial driver's license to the peace officer. The peace officer shall forward the license, together with a sworn report, to the Registrar of Motor Vehicles certifying that the test was requested pursuant to division (A) hereof and that the person either refused to submit to testing or submitted to a test that disclosed the presence of a controlled substance or a prohibited alcohol concentration. The form and contents of the report required by this section shall be established by the Registrar by rule, but shall contain the advice to be read to the driver and a statement to be signed by the driver acknowledging that the driver has been read the advice and that the form was shown to the driver.
(E) Upon receipt of a sworn report from the peace officer as provided in division (D) of this section, the Registrar shall disqualify the person named in the report from driving a commercial motor vehicle for the period described below:
(1) Upon a first incident, one year;
(2) Upon an incident of refusal or of a prohibited concentration of alcohol after one or more previous incidents of either refusal or of a prohibited concentration of alcohol, the person shall be disqualified for life or such lesser period as prescribed by rule by the Registrar.
(F) A test of a person's whole blood or a person's blood serum or plasma given under this section shall comply with the applicable provisions of R.C. § 4511.19(D) and any physician, registered nurse, or qualified technician, chemist, or phlebotomist who withdraws whole blood or blood serum or plasma from a person under this section, and any hospital, first-aid station, clinic, or other facility at which whole blood or blood serum or plasma is withdrawn from a person pursuant to this section, is immune from criminal liability, and from civil liability that is based upon a claim of assault and battery or based upon any other claim of malpractice, for any act performed in withdrawing whole blood or blood serum or plasma from the person.
(G) When a person submits to a test under this section, the results of the test, at the person's request, shall be made available to the person, the person's attorney, or the person's agent, immediately upon completion of the chemical test analysis. The person also may have an additional test administered by a physician, a registered nurse, or a qualified technician, chemist or phlebotomist of the person's own choosing as provided in R.C. § 4511.19(D) for tests administered under that section, and the failure to obtain such a test has the same effect as in that section.
(H) No person shall refuse to immediately surrender the person's commercial driver's license to a peace officer when required to do so by this section.
(I) A peace officer issuing an out-of-service order or receiving a commercial driver's license surrendered under this section may remove or arrange for the removal of any commercial motor vehicle affected by the issuance of that order of the surrender of that license.
(J) (1) Except for civil actions arising out of the operation of a motor vehicle and civil actions in which the state is a Plaintiff, no peace officer of any law enforcement agency within this state is liable in compensatory damages in any civil action that arises under the Revised Code or common law of this state for any injury, death, or loss to a person or property caused in the performance of his duties under this section and rules adopted under this section, unless the officer's actions were manifestly outside the scope of the officer's employment or official responsibilities, or unless the officer acted with malicious purpose, in bad faith, or in a wanton reckless manner.
(2) Except for civil actions that arise out of the operation of a motor vehicle and civil actions in which the state is a Plaintiff, no peace officer of any law enforcement agency within this state is liable in punitive or exemplary damages in any civil action that arises under the Revised Code or common law of this state for any injury, death or loss to person or property caused in the performance of official duties under this section of the Revised Code and rules adopted under this section, unless the officer's actions were manifestly outside the scope of the officer's employment or official responsibilities, or unless the officer acted with malicious purpose, in bad faith or in wanton or reckless manner.
(K) Whoever violated division (H) of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor of the first degree.
(R.C. § 4506.17) (Ord. 2-1998, passed 2-4-98)