Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Officer Investigated For Releasing Suspected Drunk Solicitor

We don't have the facts why the solicitor was released. But, could it he complained of some medical condition at the jail and was refused? If this is true, would the department admit it? Even if it embarrasses the sheriff?

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32 comments:

Anonymous said...

Luuuuuucy.....oh Lucy.....

Lucy got some splaining to do? (Picture Ricky shaking his finger...)

This ought to get interesting. Atleast it doesn't involve looking the other way on a warrant that we're obligated, by virtue of our oath, to serve.....

Cite and release, while not always fairly administered, is a valid option.

I've cited and released at the hospital when the suspect needed medical attention .....was the Solicitor injured?

You call intake for a court date and room....then cite and release at the hospital.

Anonymous said...

The comment even if it embrasses the Sheriff is unneccesary. When the jail refuses an arrestee it has nothing to do with the Sheriff himself, but with the nurses who has a duty to protect the county and the sheriff office from a lawsuit. Now when the jail refuses an inmate then its your choice the get the inmate cleared from a doctor which the jail does not have on duty in the intake area or to release the inmate. In the same token I agree with the officer working the streets if they take an inmate to Grady and he is admitted then that inmate becomes the Sheriff office problem and they need send a detention officer as soon as possible. This has been a problem for years cause of the poor working relationship between the two.

Anonymous said...

I work at the jail and was told when the Solicitor came into the intox room for testing.The reading keep coming up invalid .He was then taking to the Hosp. By the Officer for more testing .He was not refused by the Medical Staff at the Jail .

Anonymous said...

Officer released him on his own doing with a Sgt's permission.

Anonymous said...

This isn't a case of the jail refusing anyone. This is a case of "uh oh" someone is in big trouble.

Anonymous said...

The jail would refuse him if he said he had a headache.

Anonymous said...

Hmmm...I'm noticing a pattern here: Getz is not booked, Sharon Barnes Sutton is not booked, Dale Cardwell is not booked.

Anonymous said...

Thats the good ole double standard.....investigate the officer....funny I don't remeber any investigation when Sharon Barnes Sutton was not lodged in the jail on her warrant!!

Anonymous said...

this stinks because that clown should have gone to jail. If i had done the same thing, i'm sure i wouldn't get to leave the hospital. I would have been booked into jail and had to bond out to get out of there. This is no good.

Anonymous said...

We all know how the jail tends to refuse people for even a hang nail. So, if this baby ASG was whining and crying that he had a tummy ache, then it appears MPO Lee erred on the side of caution and released him on a court date at the hospital. And that is an acceptable procedure when it's misdemeanor charges as is the case here.

Was this cleared by a supervisor. If so, I see no problem with it and MPO Lee should be exonerated.

Anonymous said...

Don't the nurse work for Tom Brown?

Anonymous said...

OOOPS !!!

Anonymous said...

Stop Blaming the Jail .........The intake nurse on duty does not work for The Sheriff ......Its a outside company .........The nurse staff are just looking out for their nurse license..Stop bringing in these 26 perps who can not walk into the jail without you dragging them in .....get them checked out by E M S before you bring them into the jail and the staff has no choice but to take them ...Just a tip from the inside .

Anonymous said...

DUI and Fleeing and attempting to elude! Not one of you would of released someone on citations after a chase! Stop trying to take up for the officer. He screwed up! Not only did he screw up, the Sgt that said it was o.k. screwed up too!

Anonymous said...

There are four sides to every story:

(1) Your side
(2) My side
(3) The employers side
(4) The right side

Go figure !!

Anonymous said...

Well if it was cleared by a SGT quit hating on the Officer, There were probably some calls pending and the sgt wanted him to go 10-8, blame the County ultimately for not having enough Sgt's, let alone SGT's with more experience, Not enough man power to answer calls, Ultimately it is the county's fault but due to the employee hand book they have the upper hand. Remember folks no lube, do as little as possible but still do your job until they get more officers this place will hang you out to dry every chance you get.

Anonymous said...

If this was just any regular Joe DUI suspect then this would not be getting this much attention

Anonymous said...

@ anon 2:24
Even if EMS comes to the scene and treats the prisoner there for being 26, injured, or whatever, it's not EMS's say as to whether they get admitted to the jail or not. I've had plenty of prisoners treated by EMS, only to be refused by the jail and have to take them to Grady.
As for the comment "Stop bringing in 26 perps so drunk they can barely walk" what do you suggest we do with these people? If they're so intoxicated that they can't even interact with their surroundings, don't know where they are, etc, we have no recourse but to arrest them for public intox and lodge them.
If you want to throw down the litigation card for the nursing company, then PD will throw it down too. It's not worth somebody suing me for letting an intoxicated person going free and then getting hurt because it comes back on the officer.
In the case here with Officer Lee, I find it very strange that this suspect was released. I've done DUI arrest releases on people who were transported to hospitals pending blood test results, but that's usually if they were unconscious at the time of transport and there was no other way to test them. In a case like this where you have a conscious suspect that is clearly intoxicated and has multiple charges along with the DUI, it's very strange that he would just be cited and released. I'm going to view it as another case of political privelege winning out over justice in this county.

Anonymous said...

First, Anon 2:24 your an ass.... If these nurses were such experience nurses, they wouldnt be working the jail now would they...They suck so bad they cant speak english and couldnt even work in a 3th world hospital....Second, most drunks ARE checked out by EMS and cleared on the scene,but then deside not to walk when at the jail.. So we DRAG in the lying sack of shit littering the county to be refused because the 3 world nurse that cant speak english, uses the only world she does know and thats Refused..... AS for releasing people at the hospital, its done all the time on citations. We cant have an officer sit on Misd charges two days for the SO to take custody. Hint Hint if its snowing, the only one who would show at all will be Thomas Brown...All the crimes in this case were MISD and Officer Lee was not in any violation of county policy... Now the commissiner should have went to jail in her case..Period but if I remember correctly Capt Frankly boy who was Asst God hhhaaa Chief, at the time said NO..... Well thats why Im outta here ASAP....

Exceptional Radio said...

DKPD playing favorites again! I guess as long as you work in a high position in Dekalb County, someone's friend or elected, then you get to go home and report to court. Everyone else, to the JAIL YOU GO. I know there's officer discretion and then there's playing favorites. At least when the Atlanta Judge got the DUI, APD took him to jail. Fulton has taken high power people to jail. Whats really going on DKPD?

Anonymous said...

@11:43AM:

You are right. And it's also true that usually the only cases that get attention for perps being out on bond or repeat offenders getting light sentences are when those perps commit a worse crime, raping, robbing or killing someone.

Certain people like to complain about judges and DAs letting perps off lightly, but cops letting people who have a little name recognition and power off lightly looks just as bad to a public that sees incomptence and corruption at all levels of the justice system.

Anonymous said...

Have you ever seen the medical facility the jail has upstairs on the 3rd floor???believe it or not it is over a 3 million dollar facility....and it put some e.r's to shame....,the question is...why is not ever used???I know the county has a contract with grady....yet the independent contractor nurses should be out the door...and a REAL NURSING STAFF be put to work!!!They want to cut cost????then use ALL the damn tools that we have at our fingerstips!!!.but wait!!!that makes to much sense....now doesn't it????..Go Figure

Anonymous said...

The jail has never used the million dollar plus medical facility that was supposed to treat prisoners and save tax payer money. Someone needs to look at why this was never put in place by the Sheriff.

Anonymous said...

The jail does everything it can to refuse everyone admittance. They have nurses who ask ANY HEALTH PROBLEMS and guess what someone says yes " I feel sick" wow en route to GRADY. Its been that way for years until someone from the police department with some power questions the Sheriff. It won't be our current leaders.

Anonymous said...

It's worth pointing out that, whether or not he was booked that night, it sure looks like this guy is about to get his ass handed to him.

He was "suspended without pay" on the spot (which more or less means resign before I fire your ass) and his case was sent to the AG for prosecution, so he's not going to be getting any deals from the guy in the office down the hall.

The Solicitor General ain't playing around -- this guy's gonna get what's coming to him.

Anonymous said...

To anon 2:24. We are the ones who get dispatched to a 911 call from people like you to some drunk purp who is cussing people out and taking his clothes off in a gas station parking lot. Now you are suggesting that we don't take this purp to jail? The only options for us are to not respond to the 911 call (which isn't an option unless we want to be fired), to tell the purp to leave (which probably won't happen, but even if it does he will just walk down to the next gas station and someone else will call 911) or take him to jail. Then once we do take him in, he simply doesn't have to talk and act bewildered and the jail will not accept him. At this point we have to take him to grady where we will have to baby sit him anywhere from 8-24 hours. All the while people are calling 911 and officers can't respond because we are tied up on other calls. And people wonder why it takes us over an hour to respond to 911 calls.

Anonymous said...

HEY BOYS AND GIRLS IF THE POWERS TO BE DON'T WANNA FIX THE PROBLEM. HELL I GET PAID THE SAME AMOUNT AT GRADY AS ON THE STREET..AND CAN READ A BOOK AND WATCH NURSES DOWN THERE..HEEE JOKES ON THE COUNTY AND TAX PAYERS...FIX THE DAMN PROBLEM, BEEN SAME SHIT FOR 20 YRS...DUMB ASSES IN CHARGE DON'T WANT TO FIX PROBLEMS BUT THE SURE WILL FIX THINGS THAT ARE NOT BROKE....

Anonymous said...

Tell my son who now lives in Heaven thanks to a drunk driver on Lawrenceville Hwy.who was reponsible for putting him in the burn unit at Grady for 6 days & who died at the age of 16 in surgery that releasing a driver w/a .13 BAC especially one who eluded police, and then cont. to drive on 2 wheels still attempting to out run police, that it is o k to let these killers and potential killers back out on the streets..regardless of the time frame..No one should be held above the law. No one should have to go through the pain, the grief, the rest of your life never being the same just because some self-serving A!!Hole is released from jail because of who he/she is or who they know. The pain never goes away--especially when it is your only child. Not to mention our officers' lives who were put in danger and any other person whose path this fool may have crossed. But you can bet if one of Boyer's children or husband was killed or Ellis' twins or Brown's family member as the result of a drunk driver..there would be hell to pay if the drunk driver was not held at the jail. Am I bitter? You bet I am. I worked for DeKalb at the time and because of relatives and friends of the drunk driver also being with DeKalb, guess who got screwed? Besides my son! Some of you will remember this but I have proof positive of what went on behind the scene & Brown would do absolutely nothing about it. Ralph Bowden, solicitor at that time, believed and I quote "..2nd degree veh. homicide is an honest mistake and that he is a one-man grand jury and if he chooses NOT to take it to trial then that is his decision..and he has decided not to prosecute". Just what a person wants to hear who lost their only child to a worthless drunk who had lost his license in Colorado just 6 months earlier for dui and was discharged from the Air Force as well. If you read this blog, Tom Brown, then you know full well that all the evidence I provided to you should have put not only the driver under the jail but certain employees involved in the cover up as well. So to the officers I say..you are right when you talk about not having the county to back you up when you need them the most.. I loved my job, I loved Dek. Public Safety..we were the best.. and I wish you all well and safety on the streets. From someone who still cares..... so often I think ..What would we really do without you?

Anonymous said...

To the 1-28-11 8:45 am poster, great information! To the Blog Administrator, I understand the premise behind why you started this blog, and the need for it. But in the interest of moving forward in a more positive way, and gaining more understanding and support from citizens, wouldn't this be a good time to start a column or weekly thread from posters like this? Call it "Things Citizens Should Know" or "A Day in the Life..." etc. Whatever. Most citizens DON'T know the challenges you face in policing this community. Broaden the scope. Get some advertising. Use the money to put into a fund for officers hurt on the job.
Just a thought....
Thank you all,
A citizen who cares

Anonymous said...

To the parent who lost his / her son to a drunk driver. I'm a police officer with kids and grand kids and I agree with you 100% and I know other officers do also. If I am ever stopped to DUI, I expect to go to jail. When my son first got his drivers license I told him that if he ever got locked up for DUI, he would stay in jail until he was able to get out on bond but with no help from me at all. I am very sorry for your loss.

Anonymous said...

News flash everyone...the officer screwed this up. It has nothing to do with the jail. The officer made his choices that night. He even went as far as disobeying the Sgt. Look for this officer to lose a weeks pay after all is said and finished! Also be careful who you get advice from on DUI cases, it can come back to bite you in the butt!!!

Anonymous said...

Thank you to anon 10:11...I wouldn't wish this kind of tragedy upon anyone. It's one thing to be on the side of the fence where you are out on the street treating victims of drunk drivers but it is a whole diff. scenario when it is in your own backyard. One last note: once the driver's relative who was a Sgt. w/DeK.(came all the way from South Prct.to Lawrenceville Hwy) arrived on the scene, he drove the driver to his apt. where for 5 hrs he was allowed to stay before arriving at the jail. The real kicker here is that man had lost his lic. 6 months prior to the wreck--he totaled 3 cars on a Colorado city street but had a Ga.'s lic. in his possession--courtesy of a good family friend at the driver's license testing post in Donaldsonville Ga. O K, I'm done here..