St. Cloud Requiring Search Warrants In DWI Cases

ST. CLOUD (AP) - The St. Cloud Police Department has joined the Stearns County Sheriff's Office in requiring search warrants to take blood samples from suspected impaired drivers who won't give them voluntarily.

Stearns continues to be the lone Minnesota county that requires search warrants in those cases. The county has been requiring warrants for about a month; the city adopted that requirement about a week ago.

The changes came after a U.S. Supreme Court decision in a Missouri DWI case. Because of it, a majority of Stearns County judges have dismissed at least one DWI case on the premise that Minnesota's implied consent advisory is unconstitutional.

A Minnesota case that could provide clarification is set to be argued this week before the state Supreme Court.