Brazoria Tractor-Trailer Accident Trial: Lawyers Wrangle over Blood Sample Protocols

Were blood samples after a fatal truck accident in Angleton, Brazoria County, collected according to protocols? That is the crux of a trial currently on into the death of one person in the accident.

Tractor-trailer driver Ronald Leblanc is on trial in the death of a Danbury man in the accident that occurred in 2008. In September that year, Leblanc was driving an 18-wheeler, allegedly under the influence of cocaine, when he crashed at the massive big into a pickup truck driven by Paul Delcambre. Delcambre died of his injuries. The accident also left a police officer at the scene, Michael Jarmin, seriously injured. Jarmin was in a coma for about a month, and is still recovering from serious injuries he suffered in the crash.

Leblanc's conviction depends on the prosecutor proving that blood samples that were taken from the tractor-trailer driver after the accident, followed protocols. According to witnesses at the scene, the first blood sample from Leblanc was not collected by police till a few days after the accident. A second sample was apparently taken by a medical assistant, who was not a qualified and certified phlebotomist. The prosecutor insists that the medical assistant, who took the second sample, was not certified to perform a blood draw.

Leblanc's defense attorney says that police officers failed to maintain a proper chain of custody after the first sample was drawn. Leblanc himself insists that the accident occurred when he reached down to grab a drink.

A judge now has to decide whether the two blood samples can be admitted as evidence.

The Houston truck accident lawyers at SMSH represent injured victims of tractor-trailer, 18 wheeler and semi truck accidents in Houston, Galveston, Brazoria and around the state of Texas.