Ohio DUI Law - Refusal to Test?

In some cases, an issue arises as to whether or not a person actually refused to test. This would seem a straightforward question, but not always. Take the following example:

You are driving home from watching a football game at a friends house and a deer jumps out in front of your car. You swerve to avoid it and your car goes off the road. It rolls a few times, and during the process you hit your head on something pretty hard.

The next thing your remember, you are waking up in the hospital a day later. You learn that the police have charged you with drunk driving, and for refusing to consent to alcohol testing. In the police report, it says that the officer came in and asked you to take the test and that you said no. They marked you down as refusing and now your license is under suspension for a full year.

You can remember none of this.

You will want to challenge your suspension at an ALS hearing and argue that when you “refused” the test, you had no capacity to make such a decision given the way that your head injury affected you. It will be a question of fact for the court to decide, but if you can provide medical records as well that show that you had a concussion, your attorney may be able to get the refusal thrown out and your license reinstated.