Marion County - The Indianapolis Metro Police Department admits that they botched the investigation into a fatal crash involving one of their own officers.
Officer David Bisard's attorney still wants to question everyone at the crash scene on Aug. 6th, especially since out of 67 people questioned in the internal investigation report, no one says his client showed signs of drinking. A test determined he had a blood alcohol content of .19 after the crash, but DUI-related charges were thrown out due to conflicting policies over where the blood draw was conducted.
Read the complete report.
The report outlines a number of mistakes by officers handling the crash scene, including the fact that officers treated it as a crash scene and never escalated their response to treat it as a crime scene.
The report also shows Bisard used his cruiser laptop just seconds before the August 6th crash. The impact killed one motorcyclist, Eric Wells, and critically injured two others, Mary Mills and Kurt Weekly.
Investigation mistakes include officers at the scene allowing Bisard to remove a black duffel bag from his wrecked cruiser, and allowing the cruiser to be towed away to an unsecured location.
Officers also stopped for gas while taking Bisard for his blood draw, which came back at .19. Although the blood draw was illegally done, his attorney still questions the accuracy.
"Pieces of evidence can be compromised at any step along the chain of custody. That's what trials are for. That's what the discovery process is for. The defense hasn't yet had an opportunity to take the depositions of the people that handled it," said John Kautzman, defense attorney.
The Bisard report will spark several changes involving procedures at Metro Police.
Metro Police Chief Paul Ciesielski still wants Bisard fired from the force, but that will be up to the merit board.
Related stories:
FOP comments on officer's refusal to cooperate with investigation
Repeat crashes prompt calls for IMPD policy change
All content © Copyright 2000 - 2013 WorldNow and WTHR. For more information on this site, please read our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.
