A judge in North Carolina dismissed misdemeanor DWI charges against a Winston-Salem man, who claimed an officer used physical force to get him to submit to a blood alcohol test. The 43-year-old man told the court that a group of police officers and hospital security guards immobilized him.

The man was picked up for suspected drunk driving two years ago, when an officer arrested him and a companion at a gas station at First Street and Hawthorne Road. The officer confronted the pair as the men were sitting in a truck on a late summer night.

The suspect agreed that he had been drinking, but denied he had been driving. The officer questioned the man as he was sitting behind the wheel of the truck.

Field sobriety tests were administered. The man refused to take an alcohol breath test. Both men were arrested. The companion, who owned the truck, was charged with aiding and abetting a DWI.

The suspected driver was escorted to Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, where court papers say the man refused to submit to a blood alcohol test. That is when the accused man claims the officer sat on him and held a pillow over his head while a nurse drew a blood sample.

The man appealed the DWI conviction last September, with his lawyer arguing the officer used excessive force. A civil lawsuit is being considered, and prosecutors dropped charges against the companion.

The prosecutor promised to appeal the Forsyth County judge's dismissal.

In North Carolina, anyone accused of drunk driving has the right to refuse a blood or breath test. The man was right to not stand for the use of excessive force.

Source: My Fox 8, "DWI Charge Dropped After Winston-Salem Man Says Officer Sat on Him," Michael Hewlett, Jan. 13, 2012