Criminal law

Police Officer Leaves Party After Drinking, Runs Over Man In The Road, Leaves The Scene . . . But Will Not Be Criminally Charged

05242011_chad_finchIn New York, former state trooper Brian Beardsley is now clear of any criminal charges following the announcement yesterday of Hamilton County District Attorney James Curry that the grand jury had dismissed an earlier felony charge. Beardsley was charged after he ran over Chad Finch, 20, (left) who had fallen in the road. Beardsley, who was returning from a party with this girlfriend, pulled over briefly and she called police. However, they then left the scene and returned home.

The felony was for leaving the scene of an accident. However, Curry concluded that the purpose of the law was not really to keep people from leaving the scene of an accident but to call the police and identify themselves. That is not the view in many states, but Curry said that his review of the legislative history led him to conclude that Beardsley could not be charged. Curry wrote that “The statute does not specify the period of time within which the operator must report the incident should there be no one to whom he or she can make the report at the scene of the accident.”

Beardsley admitted to having “three or four beers” at the party before driving his truck.

Finch himself had also been drinking. Indeed, he ironically had a history of DUI. He had just completed a two-year sentence in 2004 after his third driving-while-intoxicated offense in four years. In 2000, he struck a 14-year-old girl riding her bike while driving drunk. In 2004, he injured an 11-year-old child that resulted in Chad Finch’s prison term.

Testing showed that Finch’s Blood Alcohol Content level at .20. It also showed that he was alive before being hit by Beardsley.

Police say that they performed a “prescreening” for alcohol on Beardsley but there is no indication of a BAL test or level determination. They insisted that they had no reason to believe that he had been drinking, but he had in fact been drinking. The question is whether he lied or they failed to ask their fellow officer that relevant question.

Last year, Beardsley agreed to pay $75,000 to lawyers and the victim’s family in damages. He will pay about $43,000 to Finch’s children and about $30,000 to lawyers. The remaining $2,000 will be used to reimburse funeral expenses.

Beardsley was criticized at the time by the sheriff for leaving the scene of an accident. He later insisted in court that Finch “was obviously deceased . . . It (sic) wasn’t really much that could be done except get struck myself or her. …I indicated to her that we should stay until police arrived. She said she wasn’t really comfortable with that. There really wasn’t much we could do, and I agreed with her.”

Source: Times Union

132 thoughts on “Police Officer Leaves Party After Drinking, Runs Over Man In The Road, Leaves The Scene . . . But Will Not Be Criminally Charged”

  2. Oh poor little Possum. First the SC ruling on the ACA, now the Constitution. It’s enough to make a cute little critter curl up and die….again.

  3. There is no excuse for leaving the scene IF he knew that he had run over someone. He probably left in hopes that his own blood alcohol level would lower in the time it took for police to respond. He should rightly be suspended and worse since the police AND the governmental officials should be held to the highest standards. Unfortunately, they aren’t and haven’t been for a very long time. They avoid the laws, they break the laws, and in Obama’s case just IGNORES the laws that he doesn’t want to uphold. This isn’t derangement. It is fact.

    However, looking at the rural road where the guy was laying passed out, I can see that it is dark and would be very difficult to see anyone sprawled on the asphalt. In our area you often see dead deer, dogs, raccoons, foxes etc on the pavement. You often don’t see live ones up until the moment your truck has a fatal encounter. It is a common occurrence and unfortunate for the deer AND for your truck.

    About a year ago, we had a similar incident. A young man was driving home from his night shift at a local co-gen plant and ran over and killed someone who was passed out in the middle of the road. It was horrible for everyone. The family of the drunken passed out victim and the guy who was just driving home at night. Dark rural winding road, with water filled ditches on both sides and no way to avoid the guy without rolling your vehicle and killing yourself. The guilty feeling of the guy who ran over the drunk was incredible. The responders were the volunteer fire department…..police/sheriffs took about an hour to get there. (which is faster than usual) and then the ambulance another 20 minutes after that. There were no charges filed and everyone went on with their lives. The difference here of course is that the driver had NOT been drinking and didn’t leave the site and he wasn’t a police officer with all its associated duties..

  5. I read of a recent incident locally in which a homeowner in a gated subdivision repainted his house without securing approval of his color selection from the HOA board, a gross and wilful violation of the HOA bylaws. It is truly appalling to contemplate the depths of depravity and lawlessness to which we have sunk as a society under the administration of President Obama.

  6. I used to have a nice collection of books on the Constitution, its history, the Bill of Rights, and the Federalists.

    About 2 weeks ago I gave them all to the library.
    It’d be like keeping manuals on MS-DOS.

  9. Philly is absolutely correct. Obama Derangement Syndrome is rampant in this country. But, he has it. And, our friend from Philly will be seeing the effects of ODS on Nov. 4th.

  10. Thanks to Pogo and Paul for proving my point! It’s called “Obama Derangement Syndrome” by the way. Ask your doctor about treatment. It’s available now thanks to the ACA.

    1. PhillyT- Obama is my hero. I want to do all things Obama. I want to take vacations, play golf, walk out of intelligence briefings and discard the Constitution like used tissue. I have already set up my computers to automatically ‘fail’ should the Feds seize them. I have all my records sealed so no one, including the Feds can get at them. And my birth certificate is the short form, only.

    1. Pogo – I have decided that if I am arrested I am using every excuse used by the Obama administration in my defense.

  12. PhillyT doesn’t like that Obama, the chief executive of the land, known for setting the tone that he is above the law, has had his example followed all down the line to the county and city levels of government.

    It’s not six degrees of separation.
    Just one.

  13. I do love how folks have turned this site into a “Six degrees of Obama” game.

  14. The hit-and-run cop’s girlfriend did not even call it in until about 45 minutes after the cop had killed the man. No way any non-cop avoids charges in those circumstances. Just goes to show how corrupt our cops and prosecutors are and how little they should be trusted in anything they say or do.

  16. I just wish they’d formalize the separation between the serfs and the State and declare what is de facto, de jure.

    I don’t understand pretending otherwise.

  17. This is the same magical thinking that Obama uses. Why should he or his minions by bothered by laws that the hoi poloi have to follow.

  19. Good for him. Police shouldn’t have to abide by the laws they enforce. They’re largely just random rules multiplied ad nauseum so that on any day the hapless serfs can be ensnared in their legal kudzu.

    Laws are for control of the serfs, not for their safety or public order.

    So it would be a waste of time to apply them to the enforcers. That isn’t the intent of the laws.

    That I am correct in my interpretation is borne out by the lack of action against the IRS, DEA, other local cops, and other repeat gubmint offenders.

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