There's a new problem in the fight to get drunken and drugged drivers off the streets.
The state is struggling with a growing backlog of blood toxicology tests, as more people are getting pulled over.
And now the wait on results for a lab blood test is up to six months – which impacts prosecutors trying to convict DUI suspects.
The lab is dealing with a backlog of 6,000 cases, and that backlog is growing.
From the crash in Roy last month that killed three people, to the wrong-way driver on I-5 in Marysville that killed one in July, or the Skyway driver who killed another in July -- all the drivers are suspected of driving under the influence.
Their blood draws all were sent to WSP’s toxicology lab in Seattle.
“A of cases, they take in a lot of cases here,” said Capt. Monica Alexander, with the Washington State Patrol.
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It doesn't need to be a deadly crash - the tox lab handles misdemeanor DUI blood draws too.
It also processes bloodwork for medical examiners statewide, which means every overdose death that requires a toxicology test goes to that lab.
The tox lab caseload grows year after year, reaching nearly 16,000 cases in 2017 (up from about 11,300 in 2013).
Alexander said the lab's current staff of 22 people can’t handle it all.
“Everything in our backlog is 6,000, which is quite a bit,” Alexander said.
Six-thousand backlogged cases means getting blood-draw results is a waiting game for King County deputy prosecutor Amy Freedheim.
“A year and a half ago we started noticing a longer time. It was last spring three to four months, over the summer it has just exploded now to five to six months,” Freedheim said.
She primarily prosecutes traffic felonies.
On the wall of her office - the faces of victims, killed by drivers under the influence
“I wanted to remember my victims. Because I never get to meet them. I only know them through their families,” Freedheim said.
But when evidence is held up in the lab, Freedheim said that’s a big cause for concern.
“It can impact public safety because you've got people who we've got strong suspicion they're DUI but we're not able to file charges against them,” Freedheim said.
It means suspects are free to drive under the influence again while families are left waiting up to year for a suspect to be charged.
“The fact that our state toxicology lab is so grossly underfunded and understaffed, and as a result of that, their turnaround time is so long. I think that is alarming for the people of the state of Washington,” Freedheim said.
There are several reasons for the growing caseload.
Freedheim said as people grow more comfortable with the idea of pot, more are also getting behind the wheel high, which raises the number of drug DUI’s.
“We’ve seen for the first time in decades, an increase in impaired driving fatalities,” Freedheim said.
State troopers are also getting more training to identify drug-impaired drivers through a program called ARIDE (Advanced Roadside Impaired Driving Enforcement).
“So a lot more blood is taken than what was probably used to be,” Alexander said.
Plus, there are more drug overdose deaths - a record 379 just in King County last year.
The toxicology lab did get about $1.3 million dollars in one-time money last fiscal year to hire six more people, but the problem is going to get worse before it gets better.
“Is the backlog continuing to grow right now?” KIRO7’s Deedee Sun asked.
“Yes, it has grown. We got the six people, take the time to hire, take the time to train, they're just now getting up and going. So yes,” Alexander said.
WSP is hoping to get additional funding from the state to keep those new staff members and it's working on putting together a request package from the state on what resources it'll need to help fix the problem.
The toxicology lab is currently looking to fill four open positions.
Cox Media Group
