Deputy caught manufacturing charges, won't go to jail

[PilotsError 2314]

This cop is the rule not the exception.  The victim's friend recorded the incident, but if you don't have a dash cam, you're an idiot.  We focus a lot on death row cases (understandably so) but how many innocent people do you think went to jail or prison on smaller shit like this?  I'm betting thousands  upon thousands.

 

An award-winning Louisiana sheriff's deputy won't face criminal charges for fabricating DUI arrest.

A Louisiana sheriff found no criminal activity related to a deputy who fabricated facts on a police report to arrest a man for DUI two years ago.

St. Tammany Parish sheriff's deputy Bryan "Ricky" Steinert admitted to cutting and pasting the facts from a previous arrest report to arrest a man named Ryan Held.

 

And he would have gotten away with it had it not been for Ryan Held's friend who video recorded the traffic stop, showing Held flawlessly passing a field sobriety test.

But Steinert claimed Held was unable to walk a straight line nor keep his balance when he was told to raise one foot, which was why he had to charge Held.

And despite admitting to fabricating a report, which is against the law, St. Tammany Parish Sheriff Randy Smith allowed Steinert to resign on May 11, 2017.

St. Tammany Parish Sheriff Randy Smith

Less than a month later, he was hired by the Red River Parish Sheriff's Office, only to get fired in March 2018 after reports of his fabricated arrest surfaced, according to the Advocate.

"I've never in my career had any write up or any disciplinary actions," Steinert had claimed in his job application to become a Red River Parish sheriff's deputy.

Steinert's downfall began the night he pulled Heyd over on January 16, 2016.

According to WWLTV.com:

“On January 16, 2016, Steinert pulled over Ryan Heyd, 32, for careless operation of his vehicle in Slidell. Steinert’s report claims he smelled a strong odor of alcohol on Heyd’s breath, so he performed a field sobriety test... The video shows the off-duty Louisiana National Guard soldier walking heel to toe, arms at his sides, without bobbling. But Steinert’s report paints a much different picture, one where Heyd supposedly stepped offline multiple times, using outstretched arms to regain his balance, wobbling again when he attempted the one-leg stand.”

The video along with the fabricated report prompted District Attorney Warren Montgomery to drop the DUI charges against Heyd.

It also led to an internal investigation within the department where Steinert admitted to fabricating the narrative in his report.

But the sheriff found that his actions were not criminal and closed the investigation, allowing the deputy to resign in 2017.

“We would have to look at it as a criminal matter to decide whether we were going to pursue charges or let another agency look at it so there's no conflict,” but Smith said that has not been done in the Steinert case,

 

“I didn't see it as a criminal act. I'm the hiring and firing authority as the sheriff. I make those decisions to whether we open up an internal investigation.”

The IA report ends by saying, "This case is considered closed."

The district attorney has identified at least two dozen other cases that are now in jeopardy because of Steinert’s actions. Montgomery has since recused his office from the case and has forwarded the results of the investigation to the Louisiana Attorney General’s Office for review.

Heyd has filed a federal lawsuit over his arrest claiming his civil rights were violated. Read more about that here.

Steinert's aggressive and unlawful approach to law enforcement not only earned him a Deputy of the Year award in 2016, he was also featured on A&E reality TV show “Live PD” that same year.

https://www.themaven.net/pinacnews/police-brutality/video-saves-man-from-false-dui-charges-deputy-admits-to-fabricating-report-Ab72nQBUnEOKZUeLtj4cbw/

[Art Vandelay 1712]

I'm not the Bernard type, but I think this kind of thing is pretty common, unfortunately. In fact it happened to me.

I was pulled over about 12 years ago not because I was driving erratically or anything, but because the lightbulb above my license plate was out. I'd had a few beers over a 4-5 hour period but didn't feel I was intoxicated. And I'd stopped drinking at least an hour before leaving the bar. I was actually giving a couple drunk friends a ride home. I will say that I was much younger then and wouldn't even take that chance today. And this was years before Uber, of course.

Anyway, I did the field sobriety test and performed flawlessly. I did ask the officer to repeat instructions a couple of times because he was very vague/confusing (on purpose, I believe).

It took several months for DPS to hand over the arrest video even though my attorney requested it immediately. Meanwhile I'm without a driver's license because I'd refused the breathalyzer (which I was always told to do if I'd had even one drink.) When my attorney finally gets the video he tells me with a big smile that I look and sound as solid/sober as anyone he's ever seen on tape. But you wouldn't know that from the officer's report. He wrote that I was swaying, slurring, and confused (because I'd asked him to repeat his instructions).

When my attorney showed the video to the prosecutor, he immediately agreed to drop charges if I'd do a few hours of "alcohol counseling" and AA classes. We agreed, with the caveat that my record be expunged, which it was. It still cost me $4000 in attorney costs and various court fees. But I"m sure that's about as cheap as it ever gets.

The other infuriating part of the story is that while my attorney was trying to get hold of the video and locate the trooper who arrested me, he finds out that after my arrest, he had been fired from DPS for altering/deleting video after wrecking his cruiser, and prior to that had been fired from APD for pulling over young ladies without cause and hitting on them. Of course DPS refused to tell my attorney where he was. He was nowhere to be found and didn't show up for my license hearing, which helped me get my DL back.

TLDR: I was pulled over and arrested for DWI and the state trooper lied about how I did on the field sobriety test. Video showed the truth. Trooper turned out to be a dirty cop. Charges were dropped, record expunged.

Edited June 1, 2018 by Art Vandelay

[TwiceHorn 31515]

Yeah, this is super common.  APD and Travis County Sheriff's arrest reports in DWI often more resembled each other than the defendant's actions in the early 90s.  "Smell of alcohol,"  "glassy eyed," "slurred speech," "swaying," "unsteady gait," like an intoxication bingo card.

 

It's really bad news when a crime becomes "politicized," as DWI has been for quite some time now.  I suppose it did need to be taken more seriously than it was before MADD, but when it became a police department "priority," meaning it was going to be used to garner favor from someone (whether that someone is the electorate, an interest group, the feds, the lege, congress or whatever), bad shit starts to happen.

Edited June 1, 2018 by TwiceHorn

[Texas_Rocks 346]

That Sheriff needs his face beaten beyond recognition in a back ally somewhere. Absolute worthless sack of shit.