Polk Jury blasts PCSO for flubbed investigation

You need to re read the post above yours, it states the jurors can't have it both ways, either enforce the law all the time, or not at all. we dont get to pick and choose when we enforce it. The only reason anyone is making a big issue out of this, is the summary judgment. Otherwise, it would have gone unnoiticed, as hundreds of cases a day do. And remember, civil trial requires a lot less preponderarnce of evidence for judgment that in criminal court. And hopefully the insurance company has a deep pocket or it is all in vain anyway. And I would like to know your reason for even posting all of this negativity anyway. What's in it for you?

You need to re read the post above yours, it states the jurors can't have it both ways, either enforce the law all the time, or not at all. we dont get to pick and choose when we enforce it. The only reason anyone is making a big issue out of this, is the summary judgment. Otherwise, it would have gone unnoiticed, as hundreds of cases a day do. And remember, civil trial requires a lot less preponderarnce of evidence for judgment that in criminal court. And hopefully the insurance company has a deep pocket or it is all in vain anyway. And I would like to know your reason for even posting all of this negativity anyway. What's in it for you?

Maybe because your Sheriff thinks he can take our budget and run FHP out of Polk County. This is a nice way to show the citizens that the PCSO is not so perfect.

You need to re read the post above yours, it states the jurors can't have it both ways, either enforce the law all the time, or not at all. we dont get to pick and choose when we enforce it. The only reason anyone is making a big issue out of this, is the summary judgment. Otherwise, it would have gone unnoiticed, as hundreds of cases a day do. And remember, civil trial requires a lot less preponderarnce of evidence for judgment that in criminal court. And hopefully the insurance company has a deep pocket or it is all in vain anyway. And I would like to know your reason for even posting all of this negativity anyway. What's in it for you?

What the HELL are you talking about? Summary Judgment, have it both ways, Vain - a family lost their son and the SO did not even issue a citation. U guys are unbelievable!!!!

screw fhp we don't need no triple a with a badge anyway dissolve them all and make them sheriffs service officers they would probably get a pay raise! troopers don't make nothing cause they don't do nothing if they they still insist on working for the state, make them road rangers!!!

troopers hard at work- i have seen them eight patrol cars deep parked behind perkins in bartow on a sunday morning...yet they want to dump all the crashes they can on pcso.
typical dispatch for the s.o. "fhp wants to know if we can work a crash at..." or "fhp has no one to go". wouldnt want them to miss breakfast.

First you say this is total b.S. and that someone is taking shots at the SO. Now, that it appears that the post was true - you are taking shot at other depts. Instead of throwing dirt, investigate this incident and if charges are warranted make them. If not, explain to the family why not. Do not ignore this family as your dept has for the last 5 years.

If I wanted to get really dirty I will get copies of all the depos taken from the attys and post them. Trust me, you would be embarrassed to find out that: 1. the THI deputy and his supervisors did not know that the blood was sent by a detective to get analysed by a toxicologist. 2. not even a ticket for being in the wrong lane was issued. There are a lot of unanswered questions...

Judd is a good leader and your dept is top notch! Act like it and do the Right Thing.

No where in this whole thread do I see where anyone made contact with the Sheriff.

According to the idiot who posted all of this, all the family / attorney did was call a few times and spoke to a records clerk or a desk officer.

There is no mention of anyone going to the Sheriff's Office to speak to anyone in Administration. If it were my family, I would have sat in the lobby until the Sheriff would see me.

Unless you work for PCSO, you don't know what was done with the investigation. According to the Original poster:

So, here is the rumor:
A friend who works at the courthouse just told my wife that a civil trial for a wrongful death action had just finished

and then:

Yes, that is what is so terrible about this. Mother drove up on scene and identified son there. After that, no contact. Her attorney who I know personally made several calls and was told S-7 still under investigation and would not comment

then:

I did check with a baliff who works at the courthouse and last week there was a large verdict in excess of 7 million and the jury did make a Public Statement regarding the Polk SO

then:

To quash all the rumors I asked the bailiff and he told me the law firm was Burnetti, PA - on their web site is the following story....

Obviously this BOZO has an axe to grind with the PCSO, but his story is full of holes.

As for Sheriff Judd, he is beyond reproach. If a Deputy dropped the ball, and he is made aware of it, he will correct the problem. The PCSO has no problem putting criminals in jail or administering justice in a number of ways.

The Family and/or Attorney need to go to the PCSO if they have a problem, and address it the proper way.

Stirring up crap on a website is not the proper way to file a complaint with a Law Enforcement Agency. I doubt PCSO has anyone moniter this website for complaints. Most of the crap posted on here is BS that no one pays attention to anyway.

So many holes in this story, so little space.

the THI deputy and his supervisors did not know that the blood was sent by a detective to get analysed by a toxicologist

Who would assign a Detective to a case worked by the Traffic Unit and then not have the Detective notify the Deputy to file charges, or have the Detective file them?

Where would a detective get a blood sample from? Hospitals don't keep them after they do their medically needed tests, they dispose of them. A subpeona would only get records of the tests the hospital performed.

Why would a detective send off a blood sample (assuming he was somehow able to get one) to a lab without ever notifying the Investigating Deputy and/or his Supervisor?

Why wouldn't anyone notify the Deputy and/or Supervisor of the results once they did come back from the lab?

How could the Deputy be expected to file any charges if he was never informed of the results of the lab tests?

If he didn't get the lab results, how would the Deputy know the person had been using drugs?

There are more but why bother?

I went to their website, but this was all that was on there:

PERSONAL INJURY LAWYERS WIN $7.25 MILLION VERDICT

LAKELAND, April 5, 2011 – Personal injury attorneys David C. Dismuke and John P. Berke of Burnetti, P.A. (http://www.burnetti.com) received a $7.25 million jury verdict for compensatory and punitive damages on April 5, 2011. The verdict was in favor of the family of Jay Gillespie of Lakeland, Florida, against the defendant, Brent Hutchinson.

The wrongful death lawsuit arose as a result of a traffic crash that occurred on State Road 33 in Polk City on March 8, 2006. The Plaintiff contended that Brent Hutchison was under the influence of methamphetamine when he crossed the centerline and collided head-on with Jay Gillespie, causing his death.

Despite the allegations and the proof presented at trial, as of today’s date, the Polk County Sheriff’s Department, who investigated this case, has failed to take any action against Brent Hutchinson by way of formal charges or even a traffic citation.

Attorney David Dismuke stated that the purpose of this trial was to give Joyce Wachter a voice, and to send a message to the community that driving while under the influence cannot be tolerated.

No "Statement" from a jury of any type.

Look at the post above yours. You missed almost half the release. There was a jury statement.

The jury issued an uncharacteristic, yet heartfelt statement with their verdict as follows:

"To the family, we acknowledge that no amount of award of damages will compensate you for your loss. We sympathize with you and grieve with you and for you. We hold the Polk County Sheriffs Office in contempt for not pursuing more earnest criminal charges and hope that they will. We hope this award is actually realized for you and for your family that your life and your grief might be eased because of it."

Apparently you can't read. The poster said that was all that was on the Attorney's website. No statement from the jury is there. I checked also.

http://www.burnetti.com/blog/view/la...llion-verdict/

No jury statement there.