Published: February 17, 2008 10:44 pm      

Ambulance driver acquitted of DUI

ASHLAND — A West Virginia ambulance driver arrested in Ashland last fall on a charge of driving under the influence has been found not guilty because of insufficient evidence.

Boyd District Judge Gerald B. Reams ruled earlier this month there was not adequate evidence to support a finding of guilt against Steven Ray Marcum and he should therefore be acquitted of the DUI charge.

Reams did find Marcum, of Mingo County, guilty of running two downtown red lights and imposed the maximum fine of $100 on each of those counts.

Marcum, a driver for Jan Care Ambulance, was arrested on Oct. 9 after Ashland Police Officer Bill Lucas saw him run the two red lights. The ambulance’s flashing lights and sirens were not on at the time, which police said were indications something was amiss.

The ambulance ran red lights at 17th and 18th streets on Winchester Avenue before being pulled over in the 2200 block, in front of the Winchester Inn.

Marcum failed two field sobriety tests performed by Lucas and witnessed by another officer. Lucas also noted in his arrest report the driver appeared lethargic.

Marcum — who was on a non-emergency run transporting a patient from Our Lady of Bellefonte Hospital to a nursing home at the time of his arrest — submitted blood and urine samples at King’s Daughters Medical Center before being transported to the Boyd County Detention Center.

The blood tested negative for both drugs and alcohol, according to court records. However, Marcum’s urine tested positive for metabolites of the prescription pain reliever hydrocodone.

Reams’ decision that there was not enough evidence to prove Marcum was guilty of DUI was based in part on testimony from Jason Vanoy, a chemist at the Kentucky State Police Central Laboratory in Frankfort who tested Marcum’s blood and urine.

During Marcum’s trial last month, Vanoy testified that having passed from his bloodstream to his urine, drugs in Marcum’s system would not have been affecting his brain and therefore would not have impaired his ability to operate a motor vehicle, court documents state.

Vanoy and another KSP chemist both also testified there were no traces of drugs in the blood sample taken at KDMC, which was drawn just more than an hour after Marcum was arrested.

Boyd County Attorney Phillip Hedrick, whose office prosecuted Marcum, said the verdict in the case indicated to him there might be flaws in the procedures for gathering and testing evidence in cases where defendants are suspected of driving under the influence of controlled substances.

In DUI cases, authorities generally must “live by the sword and die by the sword” of blood and Breathalyzer tests, Hedrick said. If neither of those show evidence of impairment, there is generally no way to prove impairment in court, he said.

However, Hedrick said he still stood by the judgment of Lucas, a veteran police officer, that Marcum was impaired at the time of his arrest.

“I’ve never known (Lucas) to make a bad arrest, and I’ve never known him to be overly aggressive in making DUI arrests,” he said.

KENNETH HART can be reached at khart@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2654.