BS, so much for the "held to a higher standard" argument. Right He should of been arrested. I still say most would have been.

quote:

Originally posted by P220 Smudge:


I used to live in Merritt Island, so, I'm very familiar with the area. I have neither lived in, nor spent any appreciable amount of time anywhere else in the country with a denser LEO presence. You're not going anywhere without seeing local PD and Hillsborough County SD on your way. For it to take an hour for someone to respond to a crash in Titusville strikes me as fucking odd.

No one is contesting that. As a matter of fact, the BWC released a couple days after shows that LE from at least two different agencies, fire and EMS were there within minutes of the crash. They observed on him and the vehicle signs to which they suspected alcohol use. Nowhere in any of the BWC I watched did anyone say he was drunk.

As to FHP, nowhere in any of the videos or text does it claim that they slow rolled it. The officers on scene suspected alcohol, and called in FHP. Which is pretty standard. It also didn’t say if it took the trooper an hour to get there, it just says that it took an hour to get to the hospital. We do know at some point he went to the scene. What we do know is we have a “news agency” added 2+2 and miraculously got 67.

The other thing is “what if”. What if the guy was innocent of DUI? What if the trooper did the right thing? The same people, to include the media, would be screaming cover up if the charges were dismissed or worse they lost it at trial due to innocence. Hate to break it to folks, the “facts” given here do not equal DUI. And the thing I would ask is if you had a wreck, had an open container, and smelled of alcohol, and the investigation showed you weren’t impaired, would you want to be arrested to cane to political pressure? The whole “two tiered” Justice cuts both ways. If your local LE is arresting on this fact pattern alone, you’ve got greater issues than being mad about some news article that doesn’t even affect you.

Did FHP botch this? I don’t know. But, my experience with troopers is they don’t give a fuck who you are when it comes to DUI. But, you know who else has no idea if FHP botched this? Everyone screaming cover up because the conclusion doesn’t support their belief system.

I don’t know about the whole criminal refusal thing. I would like to know more about it, and how often it gets charged to make a better decision on who may have screwed that up. Here refusal is non criminal.

And under my states laws, it would have gone differently. And the cover up crew? They would be screaming because the refusal to release the BWC here. Why no BWC? It’s a B misdemeanor to release any, or any portion of audio or video recordings of a DUI to anyone.

quote:

Originally posted by old rugged cross:
BS, so much for the "higher standard" argument. Right He should of been arrested. I still say most would have been.

Sure, why not. Don’t let an opinion based on 35 years of Florida specific DUI experience change what you think the law should be.

And I am sure there was never a time you looked the other way for one of your own. It does happen. Nobody thinks it doesn't.

quote:

Originally posted

… But, my experience with troopers is they don’t give a fuck who you are when it comes to DUI….

…I don’t know about the whole criminal refusal thing. I would like to know more about it, and how often it gets charged to make a better decision on who may have screwed that up. Here refusal is non criminal…

FHP will arrest their own grandmas for DUI. Being a cop does not insulate one from arrest in the eyes of FHP.

In Florida, refusal to provide a sample is a criminal offense, BUT the statute only applies if the request to provide a sample occurs incidental to a lawful arrest. See 316.1932, Fla Sat. Therefore, there must already be PC for DUI AND the offender must be arrested before a refusal to submit to the test is a crime. To have it otherwise would allow the police to request a breath test of everyone who had even the odor of alcohol on their breath - with no evidence of impairment- and the refusal to provide it would be a crime. I suspect the same people griping about this chief not being arrested for refusal to blow would be apoplectic if they were asked to provide a sample under threat of arrest without any signs of impairment. Portable breath tests are not admissible here either. Simply stated, breath, urine, and blood test results can supplement evidence of impairment, but cannot be the basis for arrest on their own.

Ah, thanks. That’s the same way the non criminal works here.

quote:

Originally posted by old rugged cross:
And I am sure there was never a time you looked the other way for one of your own. It does happen. Nobody thinks it doesn't.

So, you go straight to attacking my integrity. How cute. Nobody, including me, ever said cops never look the other way. I merely pointed out that your opinion is unsupported and not based on any evidence. Indeed, I outlined objective facts why your claim of a “fucking cover up” was factually untrue. I could have said you were talking out of your ass and, while true, would have been ungentlemanly.

It seems like you think all cops are scumbags. To each his own.

quote:

Originally posted by jljones:
Ah, thanks. That’s the same way the non criminal works here.

We also have a mandatory DL suspension for 1yr for the first refusal and 18mos for subsequent refusals, regardless of the outcome of the criminal case, but it too requires the request for a test be incidental to a lawful arrest.

quote:

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It seems like you think all cops are scumbags. To each his own.

That is ridiculous. But they should be held to a higher standard. And not let skate when they do things others will be nailed for. Like in this case. Ymmv.

quote:

Originally posted by jljones:
No one is contesting that. As a matter of fact, the BWC released a couple days after shows that LE from at least two different agencies, fire and EMS were there within minutes of the crash. They observed on him and the vehicle signs to which they suspected alcohol use.

Oh, then that's 100% the Brevard county I know and love and sounds rather straightforward. No pitchfork or cries of two tiered justice here from me about this one, but yes, as written, the news article tries to paint it in that light. Given the extra context, this doesn't move the needle for me other than if the guy has a problem, hopefully this is a loud wakeup call for him. There is, or was, a good meeting right there in a strip mall in Titusville with a bunch of crusty old bastards who don't mind telling it straight. Had my first meetings there.