Fainting driver cannot get driver's license!!PIERRE (AP) -- A Sioux Falls man who blacked out and killed two people when his van veered onto the sidewalk cannot have a driver's license, the state Supreme Court said Thursday in a unanimous ruling.
The decision upholds state officials who decided that Donald Paul Huber, 44, is unlicensable and a threat to other motorists.
Huber's license was canceled a few weeks after he struck and killed Larry and Verna Mae Gloe of Watertown as they left a Watertown cafe on Sept. 1, 2001. Authorities said Huber, a narcoleptic who admitted he had not taken his medication, had a sleep attack. Narcoleptics can fall asleep without warning.
Huber was not charged in the deaths of the Gloes because the state attorney general's office determined there was not enough evidence to prove that he committed a crime.
State officials initially said Huber's license should not be restored until there was proof a similar episode would not occur, but he was granted a temporary license a month later. On Dec. 14, 2001, his license was again canceled.
Huber requested a hearing and provided supporting medical evaluations by three doctors, but an administrative law judge decided the public would not be safe if he was allowed to drive. Huber was told that he could not get a license until he went for 12 months without passing out and there was documentation that his problem was controlled by medication. However, he continued to drive without a license.
Five months later, Huber blacked out again while driving to work. Even though he was required to be episode-free for a year, he requested a temporary license 10 months after that incident.
The request included a doctor's evaluation that both instances of blacking out while driving were likely caused by a temporary loss of consciousness during severe spasms of coughing, rather than narcolepsy.
The doctor said the episodes would be less likely if Huber quit smoking, later informing state officials that Huber had quit and it was unlikely he'd have any more fainting spells.
After a second hearing on May 24, 2005, an administrative law judge recommended against issuing Huber a driver's license, and state Public Safety Secretary Tom Dravland agreed.
Huber then went to circuit court, where Judge Gene Paul Kean ruled against him.
Upholding the circuit judge, the Supreme Court agreed that Huber posed an ongoing risk to the public.
"Not only had he blacked out while driving on more than one occasion, but he killed two pedestrians during one of these episodes," wrote Justice Richard W. Sabers. "While Huber points to his doctors' medical statements that they believe he should be allowed to drive without restriction, the same doctors agree there is no guarantee that a future loss of consciousness will not occur."
The high court also noted that Huber has been cited for several traffic accidents and other traffic violations, including some that took place when he was not supposed to drive.
Huber was cited for driving without a license in February 2005; he was ticketed for following too closely after hitting a car in October 2004; and he was cited for driving without a license and leaving the scene of an accident in July 2002 when he blacked out while driving on the interstate with his son in the car.
