Was Sheriff Candidate Discipline Politically Motivated? More Questions Surface...
Where was the DUI? Were other Deputies never tested?
- Naked Conch - Posted by Matt Gardi - June 18, 2012
A recent article in the Key West Citizen (Found Here) covered how Candidate for Sheriff Matt Koval was recently reprimanded for allowing a Deputy he was supervising to go on duty drunk. Not just drunk, but twice the legal limit! An internal investigation conducted by Koval's chain of command concluded that Koval allowed Deputy Donald Dalton to go on duty and drive after being warned by other deputies that Dalton was impaired.Koval contends he was never told that Dalton was impaired but rather that he should check on him. He also claims that even though the investigation was underway before he declared his intentions to run for Sheriff, the severity of the investigation was stepped up after he threw his hat in the ring. That investigation was conducted by Koval's Lieutenant, Derek Paul, who has contributed to the campaign of Colonel Ramsay, also a candidate for Sheriff. Paul was the one that ultimately assessed the drunk Deputy Dalton the day of the infraction.
At first reading the one thing that glared out at me was, even though Dalton eventually lost his job, why wasn't he also charged with DUI? Also, why was Derek Paul conducting the investigation, and not part of it, for failing to charge Dalton with DUI? Searches of the MCSO and Clerk's site yield no trace of any charges at all against Dalton.
The issue was recently raised at a Hometown PAC forum by Bill Grove, another candidate for Sheriff. That video can be viewed here. Grove follows up with these comments;
What I did not mention in the speech is Dalton failed a breathalyzer test at work almost three years ago. After that incident he was removed from the detective unit and placed back on patrol. A short time before the incident with Koval, sheriffs office sent Homestead PD to Dalton's home in Keys Gate because he didnt show up at work. Homestead found him passed out on his couch and had him taken to the hospital. After that incident is when the sheriffs office began taking away his gun and car at the end of his shift, having another deputy pick him up and take him home to Dade county. The day he was working he blew twice the legal limit and was told to resign or be fired and charged with DUI. Dalton asked for a couple days to consider his options. Several days later he was let go. I'm not sure if he resigned or was fired. I bring this up to point out the poor choices the MCSO made in this case that lead to the incident and how it was covered up by Mcso when it did happen. MCSO did not arrest a deputy that was driving a patrol car on duty at twice the legal limit. Why? Because they didn't want the bad press. If any other person was caught that drunk would they be given the choice to quit or be arrested? Of course not. This was done to avoid the MCSO's public embarrassment.
That echoes my exact sentiment upon reading the Citizen article, why wasn't Dalton charged? Wouldn't you think that the most appropriate individual to charge Dalton would have been the guy who was assessing him and determining the fact that he was twice the legal limit, Lt. Derek Paul? How does he escape scrutiny, and instead is charged with investigating Koval? However you feel about Koval and his actions, the whole thing stinks of double standards and as Grove suggests, "was done to avoid the MCSO's public embarrassment."
What is worse, Koval missing Dalton's impairment, or Paul sweeping the situation under the rug after knowing full well Dalton's condition??
Beyond that double standard, and the concern that this Internal Affairs Investigation may have been "accentuated" due to a political motivation, is there any other recent event that the MCSO should have been exceptionally diligent in determining whether or not a Deputy was intoxicated driving a patrol car in the early morning?
Remember, we have just determined that the potential exists for an employee to show up at work drunk. (According to Grove over three years ago when Dalton was demoted). You would hope that that might make the chain of command extremely diligent.
I contend there was an event that seems to illustrate an unfortunate pattern that correlates with Grove's assessment. In fact it was a very serious crash, and the Deputy was allowed to refuse to submit to a breath test, even though "investigations" were conducted by both FHP and MCSO. One wonders where the outrage expressed in the Koval report (by those that contributed to his opponent) was at the lack of scrutiny in this other case.
Think about it, and stay tuned.....details to follow in the coming days.....
And as Ramsay is very proud to point out he is standing right next to the Sheriff in all the present decisions. Given this and the rest of the problems with the MCSO a candidate that is proud of the fact that he is at the top is obviously not the candidate for me, or for the good of the county. Grove has the fortitude to speak out on the hard subjects and Koval seems to be attacked after putting in... I wish them both luck.
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