Motorcycle Crash

And last I heard, impaired was below DUI level.

LOL, unless your in Cape Coral. Up here just about anything will get you arrested for DUI anymore. Year over year DUI arrests are up 64% in the Cape. Yeah you heard that right. I don't see how that's even legitimately possible in a city where they already prided themselves on having some of the toughest DUI enforcement in the state.

[1-800-GUEST]

It was nice to hear that VO and his lovely wife are alright. In the spirit of friendship when VO and his spouse are back on their feet please let me know. I would like to offer VO and his spouse a night of fun and hard drinking along with their friends BO and AngelAngel/MotherNature. I'll cover the complete bar tab the only condition being that VO drives all of the group home.

Step up VO the next round is on me!

[DevilDogg]

It was nice to hear that VO and his lovely wife are alright. In the spirit of friendship when VO and his spouse are back on their feet please let me know. I would like to offer VO and his spouse a night of fun and hard drinking along with their friends BO and AngelAngel/MotherNature. I'll cover the complete bar tab the only condition being that VO drives all of the group home.

Step up VO the next round is on me!

I'M IN!!! I'll help you out with that bar tab!

Single vehicle crash. Do you think FHP will spend the time to subpeona medical blood? I doubt it, the books are closed on this one. Vic got lucky in several ways. Glad no one was killed!

That's funny, he seems to want people to believe that someone else hit him although he's not sure himself. FHP should be investigating that claim. Besides even if it was a single vehicle accident... it was an accident with bodily injury to a passenger and alcohol was suspected, so if they couldn't do a FST then they should have drawn blood at the hospital and tested it. Not doing so leaves the impression that once again the cops are just looking the other way when another cop drives drunk, even if it's an accident involving bodily injury. That's probably not far from the truth either.

I agree with everything down to the end.
BUT V.O. is NOT a cop.

Oops my mistake. I should have said wannabe candidate for CC Sheriff and good friend to many in the CCSO. I guess FHP sees him as one of the good guys who's part of the fold too... so no FST or pesky blood draws for you Vic! Must be nice...

Freudian slip? Old WINK news story calls Vic out by name, "Victim Ortino" that is! :snicker:

http://www.winknews.com/news/local/10588862.html

"Angiolillo will face Kevin Rambosk, the current Collier County Under-Sheriff and private investigator victim Ortino."

What about CCSO covering up a DUI for one of their own? Must be nice.....

Collier sheriff’s deputy demoted after alcohol-related accident
By RYAN MILLS
Posted November 6, 2008 at 7:59 p.m. , updated November 6, 2008 at 7:59 p.m.
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Read FHP's probable cause affidavit on George Radford (.pdf)
Read the sheriff's office investigative summary on George Radford (.pdf)
Read the crash report on George Radford (.pdf)
NAPLES — A 10-year veteran of the Collier County Sheriff’s Office was demoted from sergeant to corporal after an investigation revealed he downed a pint of bourbon and then flipped his sport utility vehicle on Livingston Road.

George Otto “Tray” Radford, 42, admitted during an internal interview that he started drinking about two hours before the accident and stopped drinking about a half hour before the crash.

However, DUI charges didn’t stick due to lack of evidence.

Troopers with the Florida Highway Patrol who investigated the crash said Radford was taken to the hospital before they arrived, and other deputies on scene did not give their “full cooperation” in identifying the one witness — a former deputy — who could place Radford behind the wheel at the time of the crash.

Without that “wheel witness” the Troopers could not continue the criminal DUI investigation and could not require a breath or blood sample from Radford, according to Sheriff’s Office reports.

“We were not given full cooperation with regards to finding out who that person was,” Sgt. Dwayne Cooper of the highway patrol said of the wheel witness, “and I did it within a matter of hours the next day.”

The Sheriff’s Office denied that deputies hindered the troopers.

“There was no information developed in the investigation to indicate that deputies impeded the highway patrol and its investigation,” Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Michelle Batten said.

The crash occurred around 6:15 p.m. on Sept. 17, 2007, according to reports.

Radford told investigators that about two hours earlier he started drinking either Jack Daniels or Jim Beam bourbon straight from the bottle. He was drinking alone at home, he said, and finished about a pint.

When asked if he felt OK to drive, Radford said “At the time I did. Yes.”

At the time of the crash, Radford was driving his SUV north on Livingston Road and rear-ended a 2001 Mustang driving in front of him, reports said. The Mustang crossed the median and three southbound lanes, while Radford’s SUV rotated clockwise, struck a curb and overturned on its side.

Radford told investigators that he was “tapped” by another vehicle, which caused him to rear end the Mustang. Troopers who observed Radford’s SUV found no evidence that Radford had been struck.

Radford said the crash wasn’t really that bad.

“I mean it looked bad, but it wasn’t really that bad,” he said. “The vehicle came to a stop and nobody else hit me and I’m still in my seat belt and so, yeah, as bad as it looked, it wasn’t that bad.”

The first person to stop at the scene was Sara Vasquez, a former Collier deputy, who was also traveling north on Livingston, the Sheriff’s Office reported. Vasquez found Radford in the driver’s seat of the overturned SUV, and helped him out the sun roof.

Reports indicate that at least six Sheriff’s Office officials responded to the scene. They were identified as: Lt. Drew Lee, Sgt. Gary Martin, Cpl. Kevin Ward, Cpl. Brian Cohen, and deputies Courtney Smith and Robert Acres.

Vasquez told investigators that she left the scene after the first deputy, Martin, arrived.

After Radford had been transported to the hospital, two highway patrol troopers, Cooper and Trooper John Catani, arrived at the scene to take over the investigation.

Several of the law enforcement officers who spoke with Radford at the scene of the crash or in the hospital said they smelled alcohol on his breath, reports said.

“Based on the totality of my investigation with him, and my conversation, everything, it — to me it appeared that he was under the influence of a narcotic beverage,” Cooper said. “...in my opinion he was at least close to twice the limit.”

Catani told investigators that Radford refused to perform field sobriety exercises, but Radford said he was never asked.

Another hiccup in the investigation occurred when Troopers couldn’t identify or locate Vasquez, the only independent witness who could place Radford behind the wheel of the SUV at the time of the crash, reports said. Troopers said that Radford did not admit to being behind the wheel at the time of the crash, and without a witness to place him there, they could not continue their DUI investigation.

Catani told Radford he would arrest him if there was a wheel witness, reports said.

“But there wasn’t, and that was pretty much it,” Radford said.

Cooper told Sheriff’s Office investigators he thought the deputies at the scene could have been more helpful identifying Vasquez, their former co-worker, whom he was able to track down the next day.

“I think that they could have found out who she was that night so we could have made an arrest,” he said.

The Troopers later sent a criminal arrest package, charging Radford with DUI, DUI property damage, and DUI personal injury, to the State Attorney’s Office, which denied the warrant request.

“There was proof of driving and proof of consumption of some alcohol,” Assistant State Attorney Ronald Smith said. “The third thing that’s needed in a DUI case is proof that the person was impaired or that their breath or blood alcohol level was over (the legal limit) .08. That’s what we didn’t have.

“There was no breath test. There was no blood test, and there were not field sobriety exercises.”

Smith said that medical records gave some evidence contrary to the theory that Radford was impaired.

Though he was never charged with a crime, Radford was demoted and received more than a $6,000 dock in pay from his $66,648 salary after an internal investigation revealed he had engaged in immoral, unlawful or improper conduct while off-duty.

In addition to the demotion and dock in pay, Radford was placed on 12 months of probation and received a letter of reprimand and a final warning pertaining to any substance abuse incidents. His punishment was consistent with Florida Department of Law Enforcement standards, Batten said.

“In this case, because he was a supervisor, he was punished to a higher degree,” Batten said. “If you’re a deputy, you can’t get reduced in rank. There’s no where to go.”

It's more than nice, it's friggin great! So go back to sucking on your binky and cry some more guestloser.

No wonder the public doesn't respect the CCSO too many of you cops think you are above the law.

That story is from a year ago.

That story is from a year ago.

Yeah don't you just hate the damned internet...your misdeeds never fade away like they used to in the good 'ol days.

Personally i think it's friggin great! :devil: