People v. Santos Vázquez

89 P.R. 86
CourtSupreme Court of Puerto Rico
DecidedSeptember 30, 1963
DocketNo. CR-63-32
StatusPublished

This text of 89 P.R. 86 (People v. Santos Vázquez) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Puerto Rico primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Santos Vázquez, 89 P.R. 86 (prsupreme 1963).

Opinion

per curiam:

The prosecuting attorney filed an information against Ramón R. Santos Vázquez, for a violation of § 5-801 of the Vehicle and Traffic Law of Puerto Rico, [87]*879 L.P.R.A. § 1041, in that on June 10, 1961 he was driving a motor vehicle under the influence of intoxicating liquor. The trial having been held, he was found guilty and sentenced to serve twelve days in jail and his driver’s license was suspended for a term of one year, pursuant to the provisions of the Act, 9 L.P.R.A. § 1042(a) and (d). On appeal, the appellant assigns five errors.

First and fifth errors: Both are directed to question the sufficiency of the evidence presented at the trial. In the first assignment it is alleged that the Superior Court erred in concluding that the defendant was intoxicated when driving his automobile and in the fifth error it is alleged that the court erred in not granting defendant the benefit of the reasonable doubt. These errors were not committed because the court had sufficient evidence to support the conviction. This case arose from a collision between the car driven by the appellant and another vehicle. In taking a curve the car driven by appellant hit another car on the left rear end. As to the condition of the appellant at that moment, the following is part of the evidence which was presented before the court:

“Q. What happened after the accident?
A. After the accident I got out of the car and I went to tell him to come to see the damages he had caused to my car.
Q. When you went to him where was he?
A. He was still in his car.
Q. Where was he sitting?
A. In front of the steering wheel.
Q. In front of the steering wheel ?
A. In front of the steering wheel.
Q. Was the motor running or off ?
A. I cannot tell you.
Q. Did you notice something when you went near him?
A. I noticed that he was not feeling well.
Q. How did he look?
A. As if he were in a daze.
[88]*88Q. Did you notice that the daze was due to something ?
A. Well, I think he was intoxicated.
Q. When you talked to him how did he talk ?
A. I could hardly understand what he said.
Q. Did he talk incoherently?
A. Yes.
Q. What did he do then ?
A. He got out of his car and came to mine.
Q. How did he walk?
A. Not normally; he was staggering.”

In addition to the foregoing see the testimony of policeman Felipe Acosta as follows:

“Q. What was your intervention with that citizen?
.A. I was called to investigate an accident in which he was one. of the parties. When the investigation began he himself admitted that he was one of the parties in the accident. When I interviewed him I noticed that he had a strong smell of liquor •and he staggered when he walked. I invited him to have a sample of blood, urine or breath taken. He agreed and Dr. Mas-sari at the Río Piedras Hospital took his blood smear. Then I took him to the Court of Investigations and Judge Valdivia accused him of driving while intoxicated.
Q. Do you say the doctor took the blood smear of this man? Was that in your presence ?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. And when you interviewed him what did he tell you?
A. That he was one of the parties.
Q. Did he say he was driving one of the cars ?
A. Yes, that he was driving one of the cars.
Q. And you say that you could notice that he was intoxicated ?
A. Yes, sir.”

The result of the first official blood smear was .15 percent. This is the third alternative which the act contemplates and in this case it shall be presumed that the defendant was under the influence of intoxicating liquor, 9 L.P.R.A. § 1041(b) (3). The analysis privately made by order of the defendant gave a result of .12 percent and the second official [89]*89analysis (the one that is kept to be analyzed only by direction of the court in case of discrepancy between the first official analysis and the private analysis) gave a result of .17 percent.

Second and third errors: In the second assignment it is argued that the court erred in not granting the request for suppression of evidence made at the trial concerning the blood smears because the request for taking blood smears was made by policeman Acosta who, it is alleged, did not have power to request it because it was a misdemeanor-which was not committed in the presence of the police. The third error is a corollary of the second and it alleges that the court erred in admitting the expert testimony on the result of the blood analysis.

Defendant is not right. The Vehicle and Traffic Law provides that it is illegal to drive a motor vehicle while the driver is under the influence of intoxicating liquor, as that condition is defined in the act itself, 9 L.P.R.A. § 1041. Pursuant to such act, when a person drives a motor vehicle in Puerto Rico it is deemed he has given his consent to submit himself to a chemical analysis of his blood, breath or urine. The person who is required to submit to said test — ^ to which he already gave his consent in driving the vehicle— shall have the right to elect between the blood or urine analysis and, where the necessary facilities are available) he will also be able to elect the breath analysis, 9 L.P.R.A. § 1043(a).

.- Resides when a person is detained upon reasonable grounds for believing that said person was driving, a vehicle under the influence of intoxicating liquor, any peace officer may require the driver to submit to a chemical analysis of blood, breath or urine, as previously stated, 9 L.P.R.A: ’ § 1043(b),

In the instant case, where the person is detained by reason of a collision, and he is the driver of one of the two [90]*90vehicles involved in the accident, a peace officer could rightly require the driver to submit to the analysis since the officer could have reasonable grounds to believe that said person was driving under the influence of intoxicating liquor. To this effect we have previously copied the testimony of policeman Acosta, the peace officer involved, a part of which appears on p. 11 of the Transcript of Evidence.

Fourth error: The appellant alleges that the court erred in determining the identity of the blood smear since said identity was not proved. This error was not committed either. “The evidence reveals clearly that the night of the accident Dr. Ferdinand Massari took defendant’s blood smear; that the report was prepared and it was signed by Dr.

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89 P.R. 86, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-santos-vazquez-prsupreme-1963.