Monday, May 23, 2011

WASHINGTON - If it had been you or I ( Fife Detective Accused Of Drunken-Driving Crash Won't Face Charges )

OFF THE WIRE
TACOMA, Wash. -- A veteran Fife police detective who is accused of crashing a police car while intoxicated will not face any criminal charges, KIRO 7 Eyewitness News reported.

The crash happened Dec. 27 after Detective Shane Farnworth had four double-vodkas with 7Up, according to internal affairs documents obtained by KIRO 7 Eyewitness News.

Farnworth was paid to be the on-call detective that night. Forty-five minutes into his dinner at a Brown's Point restaurant, he was called to come to work. The caller inside the police station could hear Farnworth was impaired, according to the documents.

Farnworth told investigators that he hit a curb in Tacoma, overcorrected and slammed into Jersey barriers, wrecking the police car, according to the documents.

He said he put the car into drive and made it home, where he called the department -- and eventually the chief -- saying that he was drunk when he wrecked the police car, and he resigned.

The detective from Sumner police who interviewed Farnworth wrote:

"Detective Farnworth did not report the collision to the law enforcement agency where it occurred, nor did he report the collision to the state. Detective Farnworth's operation of his department assigned vehicle while under the influence of intoxicating liquor was in violation of the law."

Working with our partners at the Tacoma News Tribune, KIRO 7 Eyewitness News learned from the Fife police chief why there won't be any charges.

The police chief said there was no sobriety test that night, no evidence was taken and the case is closed.

http://www.kirotv.com/news/27924281/detail.html
[Submitted by Pointman]