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http://www.indystar.com/article/20100820/LOCAL18/8200335/Straub-The-system-failed
Straub: 'The system failed' Outcry swift after DUI charges against officer dropped By Jon Murray and Vic RyckaertPosted: August 20, 2010 Comments (59) Recommend (3) E-mail Print A A Next Page1| 2| 3| 4Previous Page Questions about how Indianapolis police have handled a fatal drunken-driving investigation of one of their own officers became that much more pointed Thursday.
Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi announced he would drop the most serious charges against officer David Bisard. Why? Because Bisard's fellow police officers had botched the case.
The reaction was swift -- and far-reaching.
An embarrassed Public Safety Director Frank Straub announced that the FBI will be brought in on the case. He also removed a lieutenant from his positions as commander of the department's hit-and-run unit and coordinator of the multiagency Fatal Alcohol Crash Team.
One victim's family called the dismissal a "travesty." A legal expert said the police ineptness leaves the public with little choice but to wonder whether the bungled case was more than an accident. And Mayor Greg Ballard has become increasingly frustrated as he seeks answers, as well.
"The people in the city are not the only ones wondering what happened at the scene," Ballard said. "I am, too."
Straub and Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Chief Paul Ciesielski repeated their insistence Thursday that Bisard received "absolutely no deference" from fellow officers Aug. 6 after he crashed his cruiser into two motorcycles that were stopped at a light.
The impact of the crash -- which occurred while Bisard, 36, was responding to a request for help serving a warrant, with his cruiser's lights and siren activated -- killed Eric Wells, 30, and seriously injured two other riders.
Bisard surrendered after prosecutors learned a blood test had shown his blood-alcohol level was 0.19 -- more than twice the level at which an Indiana driver is considered intoxicated.
But that arrest didn't come until five days after the crash because of the lag in test results. The delay in arresting Bisard drew scrutiny from some -- as did the fact that no officers conducted field-sobriety or breath tests of Bisard at the scene.
Or that nobody seemed to suspect Bisard might have been drinking. Officers who interacted with Bisard after the crash have insisted he showed no signs of being impaired.
Questions about how Indianapolis police have handled a fatal drunken-driving investigation of one of their own officers became that much more pointed Thursday.
Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi announced he would drop the most serious charges against officer David Bisard. Why? Because Bisard's fellow police officers had botched the case.
The reaction was swift -- and far-reaching.
An embarrassed Public Safety Director Frank Straub announced that the FBI will be brought in on the case. He also removed a lieutenant from his positions as commander of the department's hit-and-run unit and coordinator of the multiagency Fatal Alcohol Crash Team.
One victim's family called the dismissal a "travesty." A legal expert said the police ineptness leaves the public with little choice but to wonder whether the bungled case was more than an accident. And Mayor Greg Ballard has become increasingly frustrated as he seeks answers, as well.
"The people in the city are not the only ones wondering what happened at the scene," Ballard said. "I am, too."
Straub and Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Chief Paul Ciesielski repeated their insistence Thursday that Bisard received "absolutely no deference" from fellow officers Aug. 6 after he crashed his cruiser into two motorcycles that were stopped at a light.
The impact of the crash -- which occurred while Bisard, 36, was responding to a request for help serving a warrant, with his cruiser's lights and siren activated -- killed Eric Wells, 30, and seriously injured two other riders.
Bisard surrendered after prosecutors learned a blood test had shown his blood-alcohol level was 0.19 -- more than twice the level at which an Indiana driver is considered intoxicated.
But that arrest didn't come until five days after the crash because of the lag in test results. The delay in arresting Bisard drew scrutiny from some -- as did the fact that no officers conducted field-sobriety or breath tests of Bisard at the scene.
Or that nobody seemed to suspect Bisard might have been drinking. Officers who interacted with Bisard after the crash have insisted he showed no signs of being impaired. (2 of 4)
But more problematic for Brizzi: The officers failed to follow proper procedures in collecting that blood sample -- and it was the only evidence that Bisard was intoxicated.
Bisard will still face three charges, including reckless homicide.
For those who had been skeptical and critical, Thursday's development was the last straw.
"Everything else can be explained away," said Henry Karlson, an expert on criminal procedure and a professor emeritus at Indiana University School of Law-Indianapolis.
But add in the mishap with the blood draw by seasoned alcohol-crash investigators, he said, and "there's only so many mistakes you can make before it starts looking like a plan."
Straub and Ciesielski apologized for the turn of events Thursday and announced that the FBI would join an internal investigation.
"The system failed," Straub said. "Our investigation failed. . . . Yeah, we are embarrassed."
Wells' father, Aaron Wells, said IMPD had failed his family and the city.
"This is more than just embarrassing," said Wells, 58. "When you do a little something that's embarrassing, you can make up for it, you can correct it. No, it's not embarrassing. This is horrible. This is just a travesty that should never have been."
Wells said the family expected "the same justice as if those had been motorcycle police officers going to lunch. Would it have been botched? Why does my heart tell me no?"
Brizzi said his investigators doubled back on the handling of the blood test this week and discovered that a medical assistant who drew Bisard's blood at an occupational health clinic lacked the certification required for a criminal case.
An officer involved in the investigation visited Bisard at the clinic, where he was being treated just after the crash for injuries to his arms and his head, to obtain his consent for a blood draw. IMPD uses the facility to treat officers injured on duty.
But instead of having the blood drawn there, Brizzi said, the officer should have taken Bisard to a hospital, a more common venue for blood draws in drunken-driving investigations.
Bisard's attorney, John Kautzman, issued a statement commending Brizzi's office "for coming forward early with the candid admission that the facility and med tech were not properly certified." He said Bisard will continue to defend himself against the remaining charges.
At the Northeastside crash site, Bisard's cruiser struck two motorcycles that were among three that had stopped in a left-turn lane at 56th Street and Brendon Way South Drive in the late morning. The crash critically injured Mary Mills, 47, and Kurt Weekly, 44. Weekly remained in a coma Thursday in Methodist Hospital's intensive care unit, his family's attorney said. Mills is recovering from broken bones throughout her body.
Initially, an IMPD spokesman said publicly that the motorcyclists had failed to move over as Bisard's car approached.
But witnesses said they were blocked in by cars, and motorcycle safety experts said the motorcyclists did the right thing by staying put.
Earlier Thursday -- before the dismissal announcement -- Brizzi criticized the conduct of the officers who responded to the crash.
"Someone on the scene should have recognized that officer Bisard was drunk," he said after a morning court hearing. "Yes, I am questioning their work on the scene. I am frustrated that there is an appearance -- there is an appearance, whether it is accurate or not -- that something was amiss that Friday. . . .
"Now, we're dealing with the aftermath."
At first, that fallout appeared to be limited to a judge's ruling at the morning hearing denying prosecutors' request to suspend Bisard's driver's license.
A few hours later, Brizzi joined Straub and Ciesielski at a quickly called afternoon news conference in the chief's conference room.
All wore looks of frustration.
Brizzi said he would dismiss all six of Bisard's felony counts of operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated, including one Class B felony. That leaves a Class C felony count of reckless homicide as the most serious charge, alongside two newly filed Class D felony counts of criminal recklessness.
The upshot: An officer alleged to have been blazing down the road in a drunken fury now faces charges alleging he merely acted recklessly.
And while his most serious dismissed charge would have carried a potential penalty of six to 20 years in prison, the reckless homicide charge's penalty range is two to eight years. The criminal recklessness counts each carry a maximum penalty of three years.
Ciesielski said he still had faith in the accuracy of the blood test result, even if it couldn't be used in court.
Straub has asked the FBI to join an internal investigation of the handling of the case by IMPD and other local police agencies, which aren't under IMPD's control, and to determine whether Bisard violated any federal laws.
"We need to make sure this investigation is thorough, complete and above-board," Ballard said.
Straub announced two other decisions:
The removal of IMPD Lt. George Crooks from his post as commander of IMPD's hit-and-run unit and coordinator of the Fatal Alcohol Crash Team because of the investigation's shortcomings.
As a vote of confidence, the elevation of IMPD's Professional Standards Division -- internal affairs -- to become an arm of the Department of Public Safety. It will now oversee internal investigations within IMPD, the Fire Department, Animal Care and Control and the Division of Homeland Security.
"We are a transparent Department of Public Safety and a transparent Police Department," Straub said, noting that IMPD had acted quickly in response to recent allegations of misconduct by relatively few officers.
Those include the recommended firings of one officer earlier this year in an excessive force incident involving a teenager and another officer accused of firing a gun during an argument with a woman while he was off duty. Another officer awaits trial on charges he set five fires to apartment complexes and vehicles.
"We just need to work hard now to restore the public's trust," Ciesielski said.
Some of the victims' families have said they will pursue lawsuits against the city.
"I'm still expecting that the blood sample will find its way into evidence in civil court," said Bruce Kehoe, the attorney for Weekly's family. He said Weekly's parents are angry at the police mishandling of the case.
"As a lawyer, you're trained to be skeptical and jaundiced, but here it goes beyond that," Kehoe said. "Was it really a lack of competence, or was there something else involved?"
