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Gazette and Bulletin: April 23, 1943 – Police Use Blood Test for Driver

First actual city police use of the blood test in connection with an alleged drunk driving case was reported today by Police Chief John G. Good.

The test was used on Jacob M. Watts of 1149 Vine Avenue, who this morning entered a plea of guilty of drunken driving and was committed to the county prison in lieu of bail.

Watts was taken into custody following an accident on Market Street between Church and Third Street, where he is charged by the police with having driven on the wrong side of the thoroughfare and to have struck a car driven by Ernest Winter, 1017 Railway Street Thursday.

Police took Watts to police headquarters and from there to the office of a physician, who administered the blood test. The defendant was returned to the city lock-up, where he was detained overnight.

The blood test is one of several methods employed throughout the country to determine intoxication but none of the various tests are universally accepted.

The blood test is not new to the police profession, but its use here for the first time locally, occurred Thursday. Heretofore, police have resorted to a police or doctor’s examination, primarily on observations on how a man picks up a coin, walks, reads, writes and reacts to normal conversation.