Do These Corrupt People Work For Us?

Three years ago, a female Florida Highway Patrol trooper had been suffering from migraine headaches and had been taking prescribed medication to relieve the symptoms. She had developed them as a direct cause of being forced to work under and receive mistreatment from a lieutenant with a history of harassing other women troopers.  FHP had previously investigated complaints of the lieutenant yelling profanity at a subordinate female trooper in front of citizens and inappropriately touching another one and had found those allegations to be true.  Numerous other subordinate women troopers had been transferred to other districts because of their complaints about his discriminatory conduct.

One day the trooper had a serious adverse reaction from a new medication her physician had prescribed for her and collapsed in her home.  Failing to arrive at the start of her shift other troopers were dispatched to her residence and found her on the floor and rushed her to the emergency room.  After determining the cause of the collapse was the newly prescribed headache medication she was treated and released.

About a week later, the trooper called her supervisor to request a sick day off advising him that she was too ill to function properly.  But instead, the Captain ignored her illness and ordered her to go to work.  Fearing retaliation by her supervisors she drove in her FHP vehicle to the courthouse and on the way suffered a severe migraine attack, with sudden blindness and associated paralysis. She struck a curb and flattened the front tire of her police car without injuring herself or any one else and drove the few blocks to the courthouse.

In the courthouse parking lot she asked some fellow male troopers for help in changing the tire but they simply stalled waiting for a supervisor to arrive. The lieutenant with the history of problems supervising women troopers and his captain eventually showed up. She began to request medical attention for the migraine but her repeated requests fell on deaf ears.  They insisted she perform roadside sobriety tests, instead of getting her the medical attention she needed for the migraine. Any experienced police officer knows that under the same or similar circumstances medical attention, not arrest, is absolutely required.  Both of these men knew of her medical issues since she had been hospitalized only a week prior and they were her supervisors. But instead, they decided she was had been driving under the influence and arrested her despite her medical condition.

Suffering the pain of the migraine headache, and while in her FHP uniform she was then humiliated by being booked in the Saint Lucie County Sheriff’s Office jail. Although she continued to request medical attention they treated her as a second class citizen and refused to medically treat her. The Captain then required her to provide a urine sample which was collected by SLCSO personnel. That sample was sent to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement laboratory where it was determined that she had not been drinking or taking drugs.  It appears that her requests for medical attention were actually quite valid.  Quite apparently, she should have been given her medical attention and not arrested.  Even though the results were negative the 19^th District State Attorney prosecuted her for Driving Under the Influence of Alcohol.  During the next 2-1/2 years and while on suspension the female trooper was required to spend $30,000 dollars in legal fees to defend herself against the DUI charge.  However, at the last minute, the 19th Judicial Circuit State Attorney’s Office decided they would add Reckless Driving as a lesser included charge to the DUI.   After a trial, the jury found her not guilty of DUI, but convicted her of Reckless Driving which resulted in her being subsequently fired from the FHP.   Experts now state that the charge of DUI should have been dropped once the State Attorney’s Office knew the trooper had not been drinking or taking drugs, which raises questions about their motive.   Did they work with the captain and lieutenant to deliberately punish the trooper?

During the same time period, the son of the Chief 19^th Judicial District State Attorney who is the man in charge of the office that prosecuted the trooper, applied for the job of Deputy Sheriff at the Martin County Sheriff’s Office.  During his pre-employment interview he admitted to using Gamma Hydroxybutyrate, also known by the street name of GHB, while working as a police officer at the Port Saint Lucie Police Department.  It is a third degree felony to use or possess GHB which is a schedule 1 controlled substance commonly used by body builders or by men secretly sedating women for the purpose of rape.  He was not hired by MCSO who reported this information to PSLPD and the officer was required to undergo an Internal Affairs investigation.  The officer admitted under oath again to his illegal use of GHB and provided a urine sample which was found not to contain GHB at the time.  He was not criminally charged but was then given a 10 day suspension from duty and retained his position of police officer on the PSLPD. 

So you have two officers accused of using drugs, one of them admits it in two separate investigations while under oath. The other is suffering a medical emergency and refused medical attention by her superiors who decide to arrest her instead.  Neither of these officers were proved to have drugs in their system. Why does the male officer, the son of the 19^th Circuit State Attorney not get arrested and get to keep his job? Why does the female officer get charged with a crime despite her pleas for medical attention?  Why did the same State Attorney’s Office prosecute the female trooper and not the male officer?   Stay tuned!

Authored by:  Ira B. Robins                                                      Salvatore Rastrelli

www.irarobins.com

www.rastrelliinvestigation.com

www.innocenceconsultants.com

www.salvatorerastrelli.com

TAGS: Florida Highway Patrol, 19^th Circuit State Attorney, Port Saint Lucie Police Department. Saint Lucie County Sheriff’s Office, Martin County Sheriff’s Office.