Some cops get free passes when stopped for DUI

Some cops get free passes when stopped for DUI

By ERIC NALDER AND LEWIS KAMB


Seattle P-I -INVESTIGATIVE REPORTERS

An Island County sheriff's sergeant let a fellow deputy drive drunk down Whidbey Island's major highway during the tourist season after a breath test showed she was over the legal limit.

A state trooper let a Pierce County sheriff's deputy park his car to sleep it off. Minutes later the deputy took off, hitting speeds of nearly 80 miles per hour as he roared up Interstate 90, drifting in and out of traffic lanes.

Officers from two separate agencies openly discussed giving a pass to a Vancouver police officer suspected of driving drunk. Only when a supervisor intervened was an arrest made. But in the end, the officer didn't lose his license for refusing a breath test and wasn't prosecuted for driving drunk. A Kitsap County sheriff's deputy arrived drunk at her job but wasn't arrested by her colleagues after admitting she drank all night, then climbed in her car to drive to work.

"It is not a stranger; it is a friend," said Hawley, who was a charter member of a statewide board that oversees police officer licensing. "That is one of the things you'll run into in policing,"

Seattle police Chief Gil Kerlikowske said the fact so many officers have been arrested proves "there is no good-old-boy system in this area."

"When I started 35 years ago, officers never got arrested and always got taken home (for driving under the influence)," he said. "I would tell you those days are long gone."

But are they? An extensive database analysis by the Seattle P-I found only 44 active-duty sworn officers and deputies arrested statewide in seven years, although some could have slipped through the cracks. The Washington State Patrol collared more than two-thirds of them, a much higher rate than its share of civilian arrests. Only three agencies arrested their own; one of those arrests was so badly handled there was no prosecution.

Marcus Mann, a former police executive who tangled with alcohol himself, said police protect each other: "Man, I tell you, I want to make sure that I keep everyone as happy as I can that carries a badge and a gun. It's fear. We don't want people pissed off at us that work within our jurisdiction."

Seattle police Officer Wesley Friesen threatened to kill two troopers after he was stopped in Snohomish County for DUI in 2004.

"You better hope I don't see you in Seattle. I'm not threatening you, just giving you a little warning," added the 27-year-old Seattle officer, who later sent them a letter of apology and drew a 20-day suspension.

Looking the other way

Island County sheriff's Sgt. Rick Norrie had a widespread reputation for being tough on drunken drivers, and he had a personnel file packed with commendations from the likes of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, plus certificates for teaching DUI enforcement at the state police academy.

Then he did the unthinkable. He caught one of his own deputies, Jane Arnold, driving her patrol car drunk on a busy Whidbey Island highway in June 2003. He let her drive the marked police car a mile to her home -- something the county prosecutor said he could have been prosecuted for.

Norrie wasn't charged with a crime, and the written reprimand he received was expunged from his file after two years, the P-I discovered when it asked for a copy.

Arnold's patrol vehicle had smelled of stale alcohol when Norrie met her for a car-to-car conversation at a highway intersection to talk about the fact that she overslept before her shift, he wrote in a report. A preliminary breath test showed a blood-alcohol reading of .119, half again the legal limit.

Then he allowed the four-year veteran to navigate her heavy Chevy Blazer down Whidbey Island's busiest highway.

Norrie had second thoughts and quickly notified his office, Hawley said. Hawley ordered him to return to the 40-year-old woman's house, where he formally breath-tested her, still over the limit.

Norrie's actions tainted the possibility of prosecution. He would have had trouble convincing a court he thought Deputy Arnold was impaired because he let her drive home and his ultimate case report was soft on her, Island County Prosecutor Greg Banks wrote in an internal document.

"None of my deputies can recall a DUI case from Sgt. Norrie where his observations were so extremely favorable to a defendant," Banks wrote.

"Moreover, should the case go to trial, and were Sgt. Norrie subpoenaed by my office, ... his testimony could incriminate him as an accomplice to DUI."

In a recent interview, Banks said Norrie's handling of the case "put the public at risk of imminent harm and eroded public confidence."

Hawley said he chose a light punishment because Norrie quickly admitted his mistake. But the internal investigation overlooked inconsistencies, including Norrie's claim he didn't arrest Arnold because he had to break off for an in-progress call.

The Sheriff's Office searched for the record of that call, after the P-I formally requested it, and could find only a request to check on the welfare of an elderly man that was already being worked by another officer.

Hawley said he was unaware of that. He also was unaware that after Arnold's belated arrest, the Sheriff's Office failed to send notification to the Department of Licensing that she had been breath-tested over the limit, which could have led to suspension of her license. Arnold had a previous DUI, the P-I found, which Hawley also said he was not aware of. That would have been a factor in a revocation decision, said Craig Nelson, a state Licensing Department hearings administrator whose department records included information about Arnold's previous arrest.

The ex-sheriff was well aware, though, that Arnold had gotten drunk in her first year as a full-time rookie and made a false 911 call in Jefferson County. She wasn't prosecuted for that act, either, although she was internally disciplined.

Arnold was terminated after the drunken-driving incident. Hawley last year chose not to run for re-election, and is now a lieutenant. Arnold didn't reply to interview requests. Norrie declined to comment.

A risky break

Pierce County sheriff's Deputy Jeffrey Reigle displayed his law enforcement affiliation the moment State Trooper Donovan Daly walked up to his window after pulling him over for speeding. Reigle waved his police identification card at Daly until the trooper asked about it, according to a memo Daly wrote afterward.

It was 1 a.m. in July 2001, and in the vehicle with Reigle was fellow Pierce County sheriff's Deputy John Delgado. Daly told Reigle to park his vehicle at a nearby sandwich shop "until he was sure he was safe to drive."

Reigle was clearly drunk. He and Delgado had started drinking beer in Tacoma that night, had "two beers" in the car and concluded their tippling at the Horseshoe Bar in Ellensburg, according to their testimony to Pierce County internal investigators.

But Reigle didn't park his Ford Explorer for long. Daly noticed it missing when he returned to check on it, and he soon caught the deputy going 77 mph homeward on I-90.

Pulled over again, Reigle thought Daly was a different trooper when he came to the window. Without looking at him, Reigle casually held out his license and his police identification card again, waiting presumably for another pass. He "took a few seconds to make the connection" when Daly told him who he was, Daly wrote.

Reigle's breath-alcohol test was twice the legal limit, .170, after the trooper arrested him.

Oddly, Daly's two-page official arrest report -- which goes to the public court file -- failed to mention the previous traffic stop. Nor did it mention Reigle's failure to sleep it off, the motorists' law enforcement connections or flashing of the ID card.

Daly packaged the bad stuff into a memo he sent to his boss, Sgt. Byron Martin, the same day as the arrest. The P-I obtained it through a public disclosure request.

After being arrested, Reigle's parting words to the trooper were: "You know it should never have gotten to this."

Reigle told a Licensing Department hearing examiner he wasn't as drunk as the trooper had claimed. The examiner concluded Reigle's statements under oath "lack truthfulness" and ruled against him.

Reigle got a weeklong suspension, the standard in Pierce County. Delgado got half that. In a plea agreement in Kittitas County, Reigle was convicted of negligent driving.

Pierce County Sheriff Operations Chief Eileen Bisson blamed the episode partly on the sober trooper who let her deputy drive drunk a second time.

"I am assuming that Trooper Daly's intentions were to give Deputy Reigle a break for being a fellow officer," Bisson wrote in a September 2001 memo. "I shudder to think what may have happened ... if Trooper Daly had not stopped him the second time."

Reigle told the P-I he didn't recall asking for favors but admits his memory was "clouded by alcohol."

"I put the trooper in that awkward position. I'm sorry for doing that," said the senior graveyard patrol deputy, who regularly arrests people for DUI.

Daly declined to comment, and Delgado didn't reply to interview requests.

The State Patrol has punished three troopers in recent years for freeing regular citizens from surefire arrest, but Capt. Jeff DeVere could find no evidence that Trooper Daly was disciplined.

Give the cop a pass?

When Vancouver police Officer Andrew Young flashed his police ID card after he was stopped for speeding in his personal truck in August 2006, a Clark County reserve deputy could only interpret his actions as a request for professional courtesy. The reserve deputy reported feeling "sick" for being put in such an "ugly" position.



Patrick Kilby, the reserve, smelled alcohol on Young and noticed slow movements and bloodshot eyes, the report said. Young wouldn't answer the question about whether he'd been drinking but instead showed Kilby his commission card.

"I felt that he had put me in a pretty crappy situation personally," Kilby later told Vancouver police internal investigators.

Two sergeants were called to the scene, Clark County's Chuck Christianson and Vancouver's Joe Graaff. Kilby gave the Vancouver cop a warning for the "traffic stuff," and left the sergeants to decide how to handle things.

Christianson told Graaff that it would be fine with him if the Vancouver department handled the matter internally, and he left the scene, internal reports show. Only when Graaff ran the case up the Vancouver chain of command, describing Young as "borderline drunk," did Commander Rick Smith ask Clark County deputies to return to the scene "to make sure that there is no special treatment."

Young was arrested but refused to submit to a Breathalyzer test. He fared relatively well afterward. Six weeks later, the county prosecutor decided not to charge Young, citing insufficient evidence. Young said during the internal investigation that he had drunk only one beer. He added that he'd flashed his badge only to stop the reserve deputy, Kilby, from being belligerent toward him.

The law says refusal to submit to a breath test is supposed to result in automatic loss of driving privileges for as long as a year. Young didn't face that because his paperwork wasn't sent on time because of an error, said Richard Bishop, the Clark County chief civil deputy in charge of records at the time.

Young, who declined to comment, returned to work from a paid administrative leave and got a reprimand for "general conduct," according to his personnel records. No one else was punished.

Vancouver Assistant Police Chief Mitch Barker said he has heard criticism that Young fared better than the average citizen. But he said, "We ended up with a case that the prosecutor doesn't want to prosecute. ... He gets due process, just like everyone else."

Driving drunk to work

Some cases are too easy to miss. A Kitsap County deputy sheriff admitted everything to her bosses -- including her drinking before driving -- and wasn't arrested by her colleagues who wore badges.

In fact, Lori Capurso literally drove her DUI case to their doorstep, arriving at her jail job about 7 a.m. Aug. 21, 2005, smelling of alcohol.

She told internal investigators her drinking bout had begun with an argument with her son and at least a half a case of beer. When they breath-tested her, she blew .091, still over the limit more than three hours after she arrived at work. Given the burn rate of alcohol in the blood, investigators estimated she would have measured .241 when she quit drinking the night before.

Kitsap County Corrections Division Chief Ned Newlin wrote in an internal investigation report that Capurso easily could have faced criminal charges. He blamed the decision not to pursue the matter on the fact the BAC test was given two hours after driving. The P-I's review of DUI cases found Breathalyzer tests can take three hours or more to get to.

Even with Capurso's admission that she drove to work, and her car parked in the parking lot, Kitsap County Sheriff Steve Boyer said his department couldn't "prove she drove the car."

Under case law, Boyer said, such corroboration is needed to make a case. But he also admitted his department did not run the case by prosecutors for review.

In all, the Sheriff's Office found Capurso violated seven policies. She received a five-day suspension without pay. No one else was punished.

About three weeks ago, Capurso was arrested for a DUI by the State Patrol, Boyer told the P-I. She's been put on restricted duty, pending criminal and internal investigations. Boyer, a former 27- year state trooper, said he's reserving judgment. But, he added, "If we can make a case, we make it."

P-I reporter Daniel Lathrop and P-I news researcher Marsha Milroy contributed to this report. P-I reporter Eric Nalder can be reached at 206-448-8011 or ericnalder@seattlepi.com. P-I reporter Lewis Kamb can be reached at 206-448-8336 or lewiskamb@seattlepi.com.

For information on your DUI, please contact our Snohomish County DUI attorneys, King County DUI attorneys, Island County DUI attorneys, or Skagit County DUI attorneys at 425-493-1115 or check out our website at http://www.washdui.com/