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