ORIGINALLY APPEARED IN KONK LIFE JULY 26, 2012
A few weeks ago I wrote about the odd circumstances involving Candidate for Sheriff Matt Koval being disciplined for letting a Deputy under his command drive intoxicated. I discussed the possibility of the discipline being accentuated as a result of his becoming a candidate for Sheriff. Although the other question raised was why wasn’t the Drunk Deputy Donald Dalton given a DUI? Did the MCSO give a pass to a Deputy they would not have normally given to the general public.
Since then, Bill Grove, another candidate for Sheriff provided us with this;
“In 2009 a road patrol deputy Gustavo Helago was terminated from the MCSO. Helago was the subject of Division Action Form investigation 2009-059 and terminated. The summary ... Helago was a detective in sector 7. MCSO received several complaints about Helago including a reckless driver BOLO for him in his unmarked county car. He was stopped by FHP in the county vehicle. The result of this was a voluntary drug rehab. Upon Helagos return he was assigned to road patrol. Shortly after his return the incident which resulted in the Division Action Form and his termination occurred in Key Largo. Basically Helago exhibiting slurred speech over the MCSO radio, he was not responding to supervisors calling him on the radio and eventually found and believed to be under the influence of an unknown substance in his county patrol car at at approx the 106 mm. He was terminated. Again no charges filed. This can be verified by his personal file and DAF 2009-059.”
So would you think it imperative if a Deputy was involved in a serious crash to determine whether they were impaired? I mean, clearly it isn’t unheard of now, is it? We just illustrated two instances. Or is it more important to protect the image of the MCSO, versus treat a Deputy as equally as we would be treated?
As tragic as this event was, let us recall the incident where Deputy Ward rear-ended an electric car on Boca Chica bridge killing the driver. Yes, we all know the electric car should not have been out on the highway, and as the story goes, Deputy Ward was preoccupied with his laptop. However, wouldn’t you think either FHP, or MCSO would want to confirm there was no chance Ward was potentially intoxicated in a fatal accident.
After the crash an investigation was conducted by Florida Highway Patrol Corporal D. A. Hanson. It had always been my belief that in any traffic accident that resulted in a potential fatality that it was mandatory that a blood sample would be taken. I was mistaken. I obtained the Traffic Homicide Investigation Policy Manual from FHP.
Section 1.01.06 C 1 states "every driver involved will be evaluated for impairment."
In an effort to establish probable cause...
Section C 3 states "Investigators should speak with all public service personnel present at the crash scene (i.e. EMS personnel, fire department, or law enforcement personnel). Investigators should ask about their observations of alcohol or drug impairment by drivers or occupants.
According to the report;
Corporal Hanson arrived on the scene approximately 42 minutes after the crash.
Corporal Hanson arrived and spoke with Sergeant Robert Graf.
Corporal Hanson refers to the electric vehicle as a "golf cart."
Corporal Hanson did not document speaking with any EMT personnel or other responders but did take the time to make measurements.
Corporal Hanson did not document conducting field sobriety exercises.
Corporal Hanson inspected Ward's vehicle at MCSO to ascertain damage.
According to the report, Hanson then, almost five hours after the crash, and four hours after he began his investigation, at 12:15 pm held a recorded interview with Deputy Ward. He stated that while conducting the investigation he did not notice the odor of alcohol, or impairment. He requested a voluntary blood sample, to which Ward agreed to at first, but a few minutes later decided not to provide.
I asked Becky Herrin of the MCSO “is there any MCSO policy regarding drug or alcohol testing, especially after an accident?”
Herrin replied:
“We generally have FHP work our accidents, at least the serious ones, so it would be the call of the investigating officer.”
Corporal Hanson issued Deputy Ward with a Uniform Traffic Citation for a non criminal traffic violation of Careless driving causing a death.
Judge David Audlin dismissed the ticket because there were no witnesses and the video was not entered as evidence.
