Pensacola Police Blunder in DUI Catch & release??

Any word on whats happing with the DUI Catch & Release then crash 11/24/07 at Cabana's on 9th ave???

He was suspended and will be back at work by new years eve to let more DUI'S get home safely.

Doh!


Thanks

I saw on the news he nor the city will have to pay for damages. and the driver had no INS. is this the norm in pensacola?

It's the first time that I know of that something like this happened. Cramer should be gone, he is known to be untruthful. He was once overheard saying he would spend 20 minutes trying to get out of 5 minutes of work. This is an example of what he is made of. Now as far as the Cabana goes, wasn't this kid only 20? Cramer obviously can't add either. The Cabana is well known for serving minors, what a dump. The new owners didn't clean the place up, the encourage crap like this and act as if they are not responsible for their patrons.

Maybe cabannas should be held liable if the DUI was only 20 years old...obviously he got drunk at cabanas! To bad for PPD, one bad cop makes you all look bad.

He's not a bad cop, just made a bad call. Hopefully he and others have learned fom the experience and will become even better cops because of it.

Gee, I guess those of you who are so quick to pass judgement over other's must be perfect and have never made a mistake. Please let us know who you are so we can bow down to you and hope we become as good as you. Of course you won't do that, your kind alway's hide's and take's pot shot's at other's and usualy you are cowards in life. The man made a mistake and paid a pretty good price for it. Amd let me addddd thiss forr alll offf youuu spelingg houndss .

He's not a bad cop, just made a bad call. Hopefully he and others have learned fom the experience and will become even better cops because of it.

True, true... thankfully no one was injiured or killed by the mistake... and maybe it will be a good enough lesson so that all his co workers will see the danger ( and the personal costs) of using too much discretion in letting drunks drive.

I’m retired now and have been for some time. Many years ago when I was working the midnight shift I stopped a driver that I had noticed crossing he center line a couple of time and when I got him out of the car could smell the alcohol.

It was during the holidays and we were ( as usual) working short handed so I loaded up the guy who pled his case about having kids at home, how it was going to cost him his job, etc. You know the drill; you’ve heard it many times. Anyway, I felt benevolent since it was Christmas Eve, and like I said we were working short handed and in those days it was a several hour process to book a drunk diver, so I took the clown home and told him to stay there and to go back the next day to get his car.

About an hour later, guess who I see driving down the road. Yep. The same clown I had given the break to and who had swore on his dead mother’s memory that he would not drive again that night. No discretion the second time. Straight to jail and all his begging, crying and tears were for naught. That was the last drunk driver I took home or used discretion to rationalize that one was “maybe” not a .15 (it was .15 in those days). When it was apparent they were .15 or better…. it was straight to jail regardless to how short handed we were. The Sergeant would frown some because it meant that he actually had to work a call every now and then but he couldn’t say much.

So to those of you now in the business, it’s not worth your reputation, or the potential loss of your lively hood to use much discretion now in dealing with drink drivers. The times have changed and there is much less tolerance for drunk drivers partially because there is so much more traffic than there was years ago, aggressive and proactive MAD chapters and the public is tired of the slaughter that occurs from drink drivers. If you have any doubt if a driver is .10 or better, error on the side of safety and give him the breath test.

anyone get a chance to watch the video?

I would like to see the video, I hear there is some interesting things on it.

Here is the Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkpltWW5Wfo

Woah, what were you thinkin cramer? 45 second mark hes stumbling everywhere. Did you atleast ask him to buckle up before you let him go?

and to think, I thought by the Cheif's reply they were going to take care of it......DOH

Jeff Smith

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WELLLL....after several days of phone tag and chasing
down the correct City's Insurance CO. I finally found
them, "Lexington INS Co. in Boston, MA 617-330-4062
Susan Bard. 1/11/07 1:40 central Time I spoke with her
and she is VERY fimiliar with the case/claim. She has
mailed a letter to me(certified) stating that there is
NO COVERAGE that the City has that can help me. I need
to go after Thomas Fletcher(the drunk), yada, yada, I
have heard it all before. The Officer has been
punished and it was a judgement call, yada, yada.
Thomas Fletcher has pleaded guilty and has to make
restution(sp), My home owners has fixed the fence($500
DED) 1 car has been fixed from INS($500 DED), My GMC
truck has been fixed $3450 out of my POCKET, The 72
Burb is still in my yard with no INS agreement on it
as of yet. She says that I am left to hold the
bag....on this one. She has gone through the policy
and there is no coverage since it was a judgement call
by Officer Cramer and The driver, Thomas Fletcher did
the damage. WOW!!!! But if I find anymore info that
may turn it in my favor, I can call her and let her
know......RIGHT! I guess I can let CNN, FOX and Inside
edition know its OK to go ahead with my story. "DUI
Friendly Cities across the US" especially when the
Cities and States tout ZERO Tolerance for DUI!

Pass it on, THIS SUCKS!!!

“ Welcome to Pensacola The DUI Friendly City on the
Gulf Coast!”


Here is the Chief of Police Reply that made me think
they were taking care of this.....RIGHT!


Dear Mr. Smith,
In reference to your email below, I wanted to advise
you I have talked
with
Tom Mulroy(850-435-1613) with the City of Pensacola's
Risk Management Office and he
said
your claim has been forwarded to the city's insurance
carrier.
As you are aware, I suspended Officer Cramer for three
weeks without
pay and
mandated he attend remedial training on DUI
recognition as a result of
this
incident.
You have been in contact with Lt. Randy Stull, who
supervises our
Professional Standards Unit, and he has supplied you
with a copy of the
in-car video since the defendant in this case plead
nolo contendre to
the DUI
charge.
If there is any additional information we can provide,
please feel free
to
contact Lt. Stull at 850-435-1865.

John W. Mathis
Chief of Police
Pensacola Police Department
850.435.1855

You might as well bite the bullet and go ahead and file suit against the drunk for damagaing your property. He may not have a pot to hiss in at this time but who know some day he may hit the lottery and along the way evertime you learn he has something of any value you can attach it, repleve it, sell it piece by piece until he has paid you back all the damages he cused.

You should also see if you can also sue the cops for negligence that contributed to your loss. I've heard that you cant see them for what they "dont do" but in this case you should be able to sue them for what they "did do",, allow an obviously drunken driver to damage your property. If you could get it to jury, odds are a jury would rule in your favor.

Mr. Smith, don't embarass the rest of the deparment because of Cramers actions. Sue the hell out of Cramer, the video is the best evidence. He should have been fired. Mathis is working under the direction of City Hall, they have him by the balls since he is contract. Cramers version to other officers did not even match the video, I guess he didn't think we would see it. There are officers that agree with you, but publicly humiliating our department for Cramers actions is not the way to gain our support. Go ahead with your threats with the media, but you'll just lose our support when we are embarrassed.

I agree with my fellow officer above. Cramer should be gone and he should be held liable.

PPD Guy:


thanks, I agree. I have calmed down. This is just amazing to me. I was a sleep and wow! You think this is a slam dunk case and find out I dont have a leg to stand on.

Lawyers tell me I will have to put out more money(that I dont have) to file a suit that just may not go in my favor. So I will just settle with what I have and that is No one got hurt........


Thanks all.

Jeff Smith

I hope this officer has been able to recover from this incident. How has he been doing? Haven't heard. Hope he is moving forward. Be strong Officer Cramer.

I hope this officer has been able to recover from this incident. How has he been doing? Haven't heard. Hope he is moving forward. Be strong Officer Cramer.

I'm throwing up in my mouth and praying to God that this is a sarcastic post!!!

He is actually a DUI officer now, crazy huh?

we love you Cramer,,,its jerry and the soup nazi that caused all of this,,be strong :devil: