Posted on 12/22/2009 7:59:07 AM PST by Excuse_My_Bellicosity
The night that off-duty Ogden police Officer Jared Tongsaeng Ingalsbe crashed into two power poles, four cars and a house in Harrisville, there was both alcohol and a prescription drug in his bloodstream.
Ingalsbe was initially charged with driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs, a class B misdemeanor.
But prosecutors later allowed the officer to plead guilty to a non-alcohol-related reckless driving charge, which left him facing none of the usual drunken-driving sanctions like license suspension and substance-abuse treatment classes.
Deputy Weber County Attorney Christopher Allred explained Monday that toxicology reports did not support beyond a reasonable doubt the original theory that Ingalsbe was driving while impaired.
Allred said he was unable to extrapolate backwards from Ingalsbe's blood-alcohol results to show it was above the legal limit of 0.08 at the time of the June 30 crash.
And while there was the presence of a prescription sleep medication in the officer's system, the toxicology test did not quantify the amount, Allred said.
Furthermore, there were no witnesses to establish that Ingalsbe -- who claims he simply fell asleep at the wheel -- was driving erratically prior to the crash.
And because Ingalsbe was injured and taken immediately to a hospital, investigating officers were unable to perform field sobriety tests, Allred said. Neither was Ingalsbe arrested that night.
Advertisement Ingalsbe, 28, pleaded guilty to reckless driving, a class B misdemeanor, on Nov. 18 before Harrisville Justice Court Judge James Beesley, who fined the officer $595 and suspended a 45-day jail sentence.
Allred said the resolution was "typical" given the "kind of limited evidence" he had.
The prosecutor had declined to speak about the case until now because he was waiting to see if Ingalsbe would appeal his case to district court. Ingalsbe had 30 days in which to file an appeal, but did not do so, Allred said Monday.
Ogden City Assistant Police Chief Wayne Tarwater said Ingalsbe, who had been placed on administrative leave, had been returned to duty.
Another Ogden police officer charged with drunken driving in Harrisville is still on administrative leave, Tarwater said.
Officer Robert Buck, 35, was pulled over in August for allegedly speeding and drifting over the centerline and had a blood-alcohol content of 0.12, according to a police report.
Buck is scheduled for trial Jan. 7 in Harrisville's justice court.
shunt@sltrib.com
Ingalsbe was initially charged with driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs, a class B misdemeanor... But prosecutors later allowed the officer to plead guilty to a non-alcohol-related reckless driving charge...
How many of us would've gotten this kind of deal? This cop is clearly getting special treatment.
This guy must be related to one of the following:
A Kennedy
A Kerry
Tiger Woods
Of course not, he just mowed down two power pole, four parked cars and a flippin house!
Hell everyone does that on the way home from work...
What a crock, deputy web you are dumber than the cop. four cars and two light polls and a house. and Christopher Allred you have been bought off. God what stupidity.
Deputy Weber County Attorney Christopher Allred explained Monday that toxicology reports did not support beyond a reasonable doubt the original theory that Ingalsbe was driving while impaired.
These two factoids don't make sense.
If the toxicology reports didn't support beyond a reasonable doubt, why was he charged? Why should he have to plead to reckless driving, if he just fell asleep?
If it is typical, then there should be evidence of similar cases with the same results. Curious to see if the similar cases involved people on the local government payroll, or any relatives of people of influence.
“If the toxicology reports didn’t support beyond a reasonable doubt, why was he charged? Why should he have to plead to reckless driving, if he just fell asleep?”
The standard of proof for the filing of a criminal charge is “probable cause to believe an offense has been committed”. If on further investigation, the prosecution does not feel it will be able to establish each and every element of the offense beyond a reasonable doubt, a reasonable prosecutor will find some other way to dispose of the case. Here in Texas, “the job of a prosecutor is not to convict, but to see that justice is done” Tex. C. Cr. P. Section 2.21. (I think).
Colonel, USAFR
We’re all equal...some are just a little more eh....
I think you’ve answered the first part reasonably.
I’m not so sure you took care of the last part.
If there isn’t evidence to prove he was intoxicated, then there’s a serious question of whether it’s justice or not to force him to plead to a replacement charge that is in itself a serious violation.
Falling asleep is not necessarily evidence of reckless driving, beyond a reasonable doubt.
It isn’t typical on a longshot. They’ll convict a regular Joe that can’t pay a lawyer 20 grand to fight it on appeal.
Cops and rich people with expensive lawyers get a different set of rules, just ask the wife of a Utah ski resort owner who mowed down a cyclist while high as a kite on Xanax a couple of years ago. Her multi-millionaire husband paid the fine and she didn’t do 5 minutes in jail. Her “punishment” was 30 days’ house arrest at their 60 acre ranch with the 10,000 sq. ft. mansion.
.
I didn’t see the part where he was forced to enter a plea at all. He certainly could have pled not guilty and required the government to prove its case. I suspect there was a bit more at play in this than either of us knows.
Colonel, USAFR
Yes, that is correct. And he would have had to pay thousands of dollars to defend himself, not always an option.
He would have also have had to face a jury that may or may not have leaned toward taking down a police officer for little reason more than that
On the other hand, that jury could have a predetermined mindset to let him off too, but these are the chances one takes if the prosecuting attorney won’t dismiss charges they know they can’t prove beyond a reasonable doubt.
i’M SEEING MORE BAD COPS THAN GOOD ONES THESE DAYS. tIME TO CALL THEM FOR WHAT THEY ARE..THE GESTAPO.
Depending on the jurisdiction, reckless driving may be a lesser included offense of DUI/DWI. If the prosecutor can prove the elements of reckless driving, he’s within his authority to withdraw the DWI complaint and serve the LIO complaint. Once again, change the facts, change the answer. I understand your point, but having been a prosecutor in a number of different jurisdictions and currently a judge, there’s always more to the case than the media reports.
Colonel, USAFR
I take it your a good employee where you work. During your career, you’ve probably spent 99.99999% of your time doing things that were good for the business.
On that one time when you didn’t, you’re lucky the press wasn’t given a full description by a disgruntled member of the public who may or may not have a good reason to do so.
Being a police officer is a tough job. Police officers are not perfect. I’m not going to be dismissive of serious violations of their mandate, but I’m not going to completely dismiss the reality that humans will do stupid things at times either. That doesn’t mean they have always been, or have almost always been ‘that person’, when they do make serious mistakes.
I don’t think I would make a good police officer. You may see things that make you thing you wouldn’t be either, I don’t know. What I do know, is that with the problems we see in our society today, someone has to be the police officer.
Until they do something that is clearly improper of a serious nature, I’ll continue to support them. I’m not going to cast a wide net about the vast majority of them being problematic either.
If the guy was DWI, I’d like to see him go down for it.
While I agree that there are probably always more facts that go unreported, that doesn’t mean that more speculation is out there than gets reported.
I will also add, that despite there always being more facts out there, people are still acquitted often enough. So I do see some reason to defend this guy, while admitting there’s a very good chance he needed to be charged also. I don’t have all the fact before me.
Luckily that’s something you have to sort out. While I wouldn’t mind the task, I can imagine there would be days when I didn’t particularly feel up to it.
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