Petaluma Police Officer Accused of Drunken Scooter Crash

[The Watcher]

I apologize to our friends on the force but this one requires explanation on several fronts:

http://www.petaluma360.com/article/2013 ... oter-crash

So an officer on the course gets hammered (allegedly), flips a scooter (allegedly), and is taken to the hospital during a golf tournament benefitting the "Hostage Negotiation" team. (Hey how many of you out there knew we had one of these?)

Question #1
Ummm, there were more than a few officers on the course at the time and not ONE thought to have this guy checked for sobriety? Even after several witnesses called 911 and (allegedly) saw his erratic behavior? But I guess when you have a 5-iron in your hands you didn’t think about that. And I guess the red cups of beer everyone were drinking from weren’t a clue.


Bonus Question #1
If it were a private citizen would they have been given the same, ahem, courtesy?

Question #2
A golf tournament benefiting the Hostage Negotiation team? Really? How were they benefitted? Do we run benefits for other parts of our government?

Bonus questions #2:
A. Can you tell the citizens of Petaluma how many hostage situations have we had in the last oh 5 years?

B. Are there other agencies that work with the PPD that do the same thing?

Question #3
This event - held Oct. 5th, 2012 - "was attended by many officers and department brass" (per the article). Umm...this was a Friday. So perhaps we should ask how many "officers and brass" were being paid while at this tournament? It was after all, a "work" day. Well for the "pin-up" girls and taxpayers it was.

Question #4
Why did it take a month to bring in the CHP?

Question #5
What are the odds that the hospital didn’t take a blood sample or record the alcohol on his breath?

And finally, the PPD constituted 43% of the overall 2012 Petaluma budget. http://cityofpetaluma.net/finance/pdf/2 ... udget2.pdf
Golf outings, like many other things, are something they could live without.

Bonus Bonus Question #6
Is there another tournament this year? SWAT team this time? Parking Enforcement? You know the Parks & Rec need an additional $40K for water!

[Jowee]

Wow, sounds like a fun day! When is the next event ?

[fxlnll]

dui on a golf course? are you kidding me? what a waste of tax money. You would have to arrest most people that drive carts on a course then. I wish the police would have looked into the casa football tournament where a drunk golfer used his cart to chase a baby swan and ran over it.

[Edgybob]

This is so stupid. Just deny the Workmans Compensation claim and be done with this. The tax payer should not have to pay this dude's medical bills or lost wages for being an idiot, nor should we have to pay to prosecute this "crime against humanity". He was an idiot not an ax murderer

If he was on duty and the tax payers are paying his medical bills, he shoud be fired and his supervisor should be fired for drinking on duty. If he was off duty then the tax payers have no beef, no obligation to pay, and let this dog lie. its stupid.

[mongoose]

I love the fairness here. He was not on duty, therefore no workers comp claim, the taxpayers are not paying his medical bills and who has proved he drank prior to his "accident". I don't believe he has been convicted so he is presumed innocent. A right that all those wanting to hang him have seemed to forgotten. Everybody can be accused of bad judgement at one time or another in their lives so try to remember that as you build the gallows. If any of this is true it seems like a case of bad judgement to me. The crimmal to me here is the DAs office for wasting taxpayer money on this but it is an election year so Jill Ravitch needs to make headlines to get herself re-elected.

[fxlnll]

I love the fairness here. He was not on duty, therefore no workers comp claim, the taxpayers are not paying his medical bills and who has proved he drank prior to his "accident". I don't believe he has been convicted so he is presumed innocent. A right that all those wanting to hang him have seemed to forgotten. Everybody can be accused of bad judgement at one time or another in their lives so try to remember that as you build the gallows. If any of this is true it seems like a case of bad judgement to me. The crimmal to me here is the DAs office for wasting taxpayer money on this but it is an election year so Jill Ravitch needs to make headlines to get herself re-elected.

You are exactly correct. If the PD wanted to get a real criminal, they would have arrested the idiot at the Casa Football golf tournament who ran over a young swan and killed it. Someone called the police then when they showed up no one saw anything. They could have arrested him for dui at the least. If they want to raise a lot of money they should post police on the course every weekend. They could get someone every weekend for dui