The Chemical Test
IC 9-30-6-2 — offered on probable cause, given within three hours, and every test offered has to be taken
Everyone who drives in Indiana impliedly consents, as a condition of driving, to the chemical test provisions of the implied consent chapter.
Who handles this in Indiana: legal aid programs and the state offices, listed in the Indiana directory.
- An officer with probable cause to believe a person committed an impaired driving offense offers the chance to take a chemical test.
- An officer need not offer one to an unconscious person, and may offer more than one.
- A test is given within three hours after the officer had probable cause.
- To comply with implied consent, a person takes every chemical test an officer offers.
A refusal is admissible in evidence in any proceeding under the impaired driving chapters. An officer with probable cause may arrest, and where a test gives prima facie evidence of intoxication, does arrest.
Where a person refuses, the arresting officer says that refusing will result in suspension of driving privileges. After a refusal so warned, or a test giving prima facie evidence of intoxication, the officer takes the license or permit if the person has it, issues a receipt good until the initial hearing, and sends a probable cause affidavit to the county prosecutor.
Testing is also limited by the Fourth Amendment. The Supreme Court of the United States has held that a breath test may be taken without a warrant as part of a lawful arrest for drunk driving and a blood test may not; that a driver may not be criminally punished for refusing a blood test where no warrant was obtained; and that the natural fall of alcohol in the blood does not by itself create an emergency excusing a warrant in every case, which is decided case by case on all the circumstances. Those holdings are a floor: a state's own constitution and statutes can give more protection than they do, never less.
Sources for this section (6)
- IC 9-30-6-1 — Chemical test for intoxication; implied consent
- IC 9-30-6-2 — Probable cause; offer of test; alternative tests; requirement to submit
- IC 9-30-6-3 — Arrest; probable cause; evidence of intoxication; refusal to submit to test; admissibility
- IC 9-30-6-7 — Refusal to submit to chemical tests or test results in prima facie evidence of intoxication; duties of arresting officer
- Birchfield v. North Dakota, 579 U.S. 438 (2016) — A breath test may be taken incident to arrest, a blood draw needs a warrant
- Missouri v. McNeely, 569 U.S. 141 (2013) — The natural fall of blood alcohol is not by itself an emergency justifying a warrantless draw
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of October 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Indiana attorney.