LAKE COUNTY, Fla. – A Lake County deputy resigned while under investigation for allegedly crashing his patrol vehicle while looking at pornography on his phone, according to the sheriff’s office.
An internal affairs report finalized about two weeks after the Nov. 6 crash states that the former deputy was found in violation of professional standards, including departure from the truth, certain use of electronic devices prohibited and use of a safety belt.
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The crash occurred shortly before 2 p.m. on County Road 435 near its intersection with Creston Avenue, not far from Sorrento, according to the report. The deputy had rear-ended a vehicle that was stopped ahead of him because a school bus had stopped in the opposite travel lane with its lights activated, the report states.
In the deputy’s original report, he allegedly stated he had just ended a phone conversation with another deputy when he saw a vehicle stopped ahead of him. Further, the deputy claimed his brakes locked up and that his ABS light was on in his vehicle, blaming the purported mechanical issues on recent speed calibrations at an IPS range, the report states.
The next day, investigators looking into the vehicle’s dash camera and the deputy’s body-worn camera noticed that the deputy appeared to be distracted at the time of the crash, specifically that he was holding a cellphone in his right hand in the seconds leading up to it, according to the report. When asked about this, the deputy went on to say he was scrolling through text messages on his phone from a work group chat at the time, the report states.
The videos were reviewed again. This time, investigators noted not only that the deputy was looking at some kind of image or video — not text messages — at the time of the crash, but that he didn’t appear to remove his seat belt before exiting the patrol vehicle, with the video allegedly going on to show that the seat belt had been latched behind his back the entire time. Moreover, the deputy’s supervisor reported there were no videos or photographs in the work group chat, an investigator said.
Within several days, the deputy was found in violation of the aforementioned orders and was provided with the officer’s bill of rights. A week later, a detective received a copy of the group chat, which confirmed no memes or videos had been shared, according to the report.
Now, with the deputy brought in for an interview and provided the case file to review beforehand, “he agreed to tell the truth,” the report states.
The deputy again said that he was on the phone with another deputy prior to the crash, yet this time added he was on his personal phone “looking at inappropriate pictures” after that phone call. When asked to clarify what he meant by inappropriate pictures, the deputy replied along the lines of, “pornographic material like boobs or whatnot,” the report states.
The deputy went on to describe that he looked up from his personal phone and saw a vehicle stopped in front of him, adding that while the ABS and traction control lights were on his dashboard, he did not have time to stop when he saw what was happening.
When pressed on why he initially said that the ABS system may have been a factor in the crash, the deputy said that “was more of a deflection than a genuine reason for the vehicle crash,” adding that his glossing-over of the true leading cause of the crash — the inappropriate pictures — “is called lying by omission,” the report states.
“He further said he knows that one all too well,” an investigator wrote.
Regarding the seat belt, the deputy stated “he believes it more tactically sound not to be seat-belted while on patrol,” what he claimed “been his standard practice” despite knowing what he should do according to policy, the report states. These statements were followed by the deputy saying the year had been particularly tough for him and that he was currently on depression medication, according to the report.
News 6 is not naming or showing the former deputy as he has not been charged with a crime.
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