Montgomery Police Did Not Give Fire Official Special Treatment, Report Says

Montgomery County police did not give favorable treatment to then-Assistant Fire Chief Gregory J. DeHaven when they decided against giving him a breathalyzer test after he caused a four-car accident, an internal police department report concludes.

Fire department tests later that evening found that DeHaven had a blood alcohol level twice the legal limit -- a result that he disputes.

The still-unfinished internal report, which the county police chief said he would not release publicly, concluded that the ranking police officers who converged on the scene of the Nov. 30 accident handled the case properly when a roadside sobriety test on DeHaven by a sergeant determined that he did not show signs of impairment. A rookie officer had previously said he smelled alcohol on DeHaven's breath. Police issued DeHaven a $130 ticket for failing to control his county sport-utility vehicle.

DeHaven, who was returning from honor guard duties at a Washington Redskins game, sideswiped a car, crashed into a police cruiser and then struck a vehicle that the police cruiser was stopping, police said.

DeHaven was allowed to leave the scene of the accident, which police said occurred about 8 p.m. at the Falls Road interchange on Interstate 270. He left with fellow fire department officials but did not show up immediately at the department's alcohol and drug testing site in nearby Rockville, confidential fire department documents show. As a result of the delay, DeHaven's blood was not tested until nearly 11 p.m., the records show.

Montgomery Police Chief J. Thomas Manger, whose internal affairs office examined police handling of the case, said he is confident that his department acted properly. He said the report is not finished because there are some small editing changes he plans to include in the report. But he said the conclusion, which he described to The Washington Post, would not change.

Officers at the scene concluded that DeHaven "wasn't likely impaired," Manger said. "I think for the police department, that was the biggest issue. Basically, the bottom line was, 'Did he get any special treatment?' And the bottom line answer is, 'No, he got no special treatment,' " Manger said.

One of the first officers on the scene, recent police academy graduate Kevin Correa, was quickly outranked by colleagues who joined him. "Correa was just taking orders. There was absolutely no wrongdoing on his part," Manger said.

Sgt. Ed Shropshire gave DeHaven an eye-tracking test, asking him to follow the movement of a pen, Manger said. Shropshire "felt that with what he saw, [DeHaven] wasn't impaired enough to go further."

Manger said the sergeant has a good reputation. "Shrop has got no reason to handle this any differently than the way it was handled."

Capt. Willie Parker-Loan also arrived on the scene. "If they thought he was drunk, Willie would have said, 'Lock him up,' " Manger said.

In an e-mail exchange Friday, Correa declined to comment. Shropshire and Parker-Loan could not be reached Friday.