Witnesses to Official's Crash Not Interviewed

Montgomery Probe: 6 Smelled Alcohol

Montgomery County fire investigators did not interview key witnesses when they looked into the causes of a four-car collision involving a high-ranking fire official with a blood-alcohol level almost twice the legal limit, a new report says.

The investigators did not talk with at least six people who told others that Assistant Chief Gregory J. DeHaven had nearly fallen at the accident scene, was slurring his words and smelled of alcohol, according to a report issued Friday by Inspector General Thomas J. Dagley and Assistant Inspector General Christopher Giusti.

"The investigators should have interviewed these individuals or documented why" they did not, says the report, which looked at an internal investigation as well as one by an outside contractor.

Without information from those witnesses, the government's record of the case is incomplete and could lead to inaccurate conclusions about the accident, the report says.

The accident occurred as DeHaven was returning from honor guard duties at a Washington Redskins game about 8 p.m. Nov. 30. Police said he sideswiped a car, crashed into a police cruiser and then hit a vehicle that police were stopping near the Falls Road interchange on Interstate 270. The county's personnel board said in a separate review of the case that DeHaven's fire department-owned sport-utility vehicle had been airborne.

A rookie officer said he smelled alcohol on DeHaven, police have said. One of the accident victims told the county's personnel board that DeHaven needed help standing, smelled of alcohol and asked whether he would resolve the case without involving the police, which the victim declined.

DeHaven was fired and is appealing his dismissal.

County police said they did not administer a breath test after the accident, saying that a roadside sobriety test indicated that DeHaven was not impaired. Tests performed about three hours later showed that DeHaven's blood-alcohol level was 0.141 and 0.143.The legal limit is 0.08.

Police issued DeHaven a $130 ticket for failing to control his vehicle, which he paid.

DeHaven was allowed to leave the scene of the accident with two fire department officials but did not immediately show up at the department's alcohol and drug testing site in nearby Rockville, records show. The personnel board said that DeHaven and two other fire officials stopped at a 7-Eleven, where one of them bought a bottle of water for DeHaven.

The inspector general's report points to several other weaknesses in the fire department's probe. The report says investigators failed to check whether a breath testing machine used on DeHaven after the accident was in working order; did not determine whether fire department rules were violated; and neglected to report that high-ranking department officials were told shortly after the accident that DeHaven had consumed several beers beforehand.

It also says the inspector general plans to examine the police department's review of the case. Police Chief J. Thomas Manger has said officers handled the case properly but has declined to release the internal report. Two officers involved in the case, Sgt. Ed Shropshire and Capt. Willie Parker-Loan, have sued the county to prevent disclosure of police information to the inspector general's office, saying it involves confidential personnel matters.

Patrick Lacefield, spokesman for County Executive Isiah Leggett (D), said the fire department quickly brought in an outside investigator to take an unbiased look. "We believe it was a good investigation," he said.

Timothy L. Firestine, chief administrative officer for Leggett, said in a written statement that the investigation by the outside contractor MDBI "produced factual information" that led to "appropriate personnel decisions" by Fire Chief Richard R. Bowers Jr. Firestine also said Bowers is reviewing the inspector general's recommendations to improve procedures for accident and personnel investigations.