§ 577.021 Chemical testing authorized-reasonable efforts to test required-admissibility-severability clause

Codes > Missouri Statutes > Title XXXVIII > Chapter 577 > 577.021

577.021. Chemical testing authorized--reasonable efforts to test required--admissibility--severability clause

    1. Any state, county or municipal law enforcement officer who has the power of arrest for violations of section 577.010 or 577.012 and who is certified pursuant to chapter 590, RSMo, may, prior to arrest, administer a chemical test to any person suspected of operating a motor vehicle in violation of section 577.010 or 577.012.

    2. Any state, county, or municipal law enforcement officer who has the power of arrest for violations of section 577.010 or 577.012 and who is certified under chapter 590, RSMo, shall make all reasonable efforts to administer a chemical test to any person suspected of driving a motor vehicle involved in a collision which resulted in a fatality or serious physical injury as defined in section 565.002, RSMo.

    3. A test administered pursuant to this section shall be admissible as evidence of probable cause to arrest and as exculpatory evidence, but shall not be admissible as evidence of blood alcohol content. The provisions of sections 577.019 and 577.020 shall not apply to a test administered prior to arrest pursuant to this section.

    The provisions changing chapter 577 are severable from this legislation. The general assembly would have enacted the remainder of this legislation without the changes made to chapter 577, and the remainder of the legislation is not essentially and inseparably connected with or dependent upon the changes to chapter 577.