WEST VIRGINIA CODE
WVC 29 - 2 A- 11 A
§29-2A-11a. Implied consent to test; administration at direction
of law-enforcement officer; designation of type of
test; definition of law-enforcement officer.
Any person who operates an aircraft in this state is
considered to have given his or her consent by the operation
thereof to a preliminary breath analysis and a secondary chemical
test of either his or her blood, breath or urine for the purposes
of determining the alcoholic content of his or her blood. A
preliminary breath analysis may be administered in accordance with
the provisions of section eleven-b of this article whenever a
law-enforcement officer has reasonable cause to believe a person to
have committed an offense prohibited by section eleven of this
article. A secondary test of blood, breath or urine shall be
incidental to a lawful arrest and shall be administered at the
direction of the arresting law-enforcement officer having
reasonable grounds to believe the person to have committed an
offense prohibited by said section. The law-enforcement agency by
which the law-enforcement officer is employed shall designate which
one of the aforesaid secondary tests shall be administered:
Provided, That if the test so designated is a blood test and the
person so arrested refuses to submit to the blood test, then the
law-enforcement officer making the arrest shall designate in lieu
thereof either a breath or urine test to be administered.
For the purpose of this article, the term "law-enforcement
officer" means and is limited to: (1) Any member of the State Police; (2) any sheriff and any deputy sheriff of any county; (3)
any member of a police department in any municipality as defined in
section two, article one, chapter eight of this code; and (4) any
natural resources police officer of the Division of Natural
Resources. If any municipality or the Division of Natural
Resources does not have available to its law-enforcement officers
the testing equipment or facilities necessary to conduct any
secondary test which a law-enforcement officer may administer under
this article, any member of the West Virginia State Police, the
sheriff of the county wherein the arrest is made or any deputy of
the sheriff or any municipal law-enforcement officer of another
municipality within the county wherein the arrest is made may, upon
the request of the arresting law-enforcement officer and in his or
her presence, conduct a secondary test and the results of the test
may be used in evidence to the same extent and in the same manner
as if the test had been conducted by the arresting law-enforcement
officer. Only the person actually administering or conducting the
test is competent to testify as to the results and the veracity of
the test.
Note: WV Code updated with legislation passed through the 2012 1st Special Session