Instead, he said, suspect drivers will be taken to a police facility or hospital to have blood drawn to measure the percentage of alcohol in their blood.
"We will rely on blood-sample testing," Reed said.
Reed noted that the change could actually result in more motorists being charged with impaired driving - from drugs, not alcohol.
The breathalyzer cannot pick up drug intoxication; the blood test can.
Vincent P. DiFabio, a defense lawyer in Paoli who handles DUI cases, applauded the state police decision to suspend breathalyzer tests.
He said lawyers in the Philadelphia area already are planning challenges to some DUI convictions based on the Dauphin County cases.
But he noted that most police departments in the suburbs already use blood tests, often at a hospital.
The Intoxilyzer 5000EN is not the blow-into-the-tube test that police sometimes use on the street, DiFabio said.
The road test is only used to help establish probable cause to take a driver into custody, he said. The Intoxilyzer 5000EN is waiting back at a station.
Blood tests are better for accuracy, anyway, DiFabio said.
"It's interesting that the local departments for years have been using the more reliable method, which is blood," he said.
Christine O'Brien, spokeswoman for the Philadelphia Police Department, said city police employ both blood and breathalyzer tests.
District attorneys across the state are figuring out how to respond to the Dauphin County cases.
The Chester County D.A.'s office said Wednesday that "all of the departments who use breathalyzers also are trained to use blood samples. Working together, we have crafted short-term and long-term solutions to ensure the integrity of all testing processes."
Contact Tom Infield at 610-313-8205 or tinfield@phillynews.com, or follow on Twitter @tinfield.
