Deputy Loses a Round in Drunk-Driving Case
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A Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy facing drunk-driving charges in San Luis Obispo lost his bid Monday for a court order blocking the destruction of documents that he claims could clear him in the case.
Deputy David Furmanski, a member of the department’s SWAT team accused of running a red light in a patrol car after seven hours of drinking, also lost his request for an order preventing San Luis Obispo police from using what he claims is a secret computer file with damaging evidence against him.
Stay Imposed
U.S. District Judge Consuelo B. Marshall imposed a stay on the officer’s $20-million lawsuit against the Police Department and the San Luis Obispo County district attorney’s office, which he claims is prosecuting him in response to political pressure from a local Mothers Against Drunk Driving group and the state attorney general’s office.
Under Marshall’s order, Furmanski will not be permitted to pursue his civil rights violations claims until after his criminal trial on the drunk-driving charges, which is scheduled Sept. 15.
Furmanski was stopped on Aug. 2, 1986, when Officer John Noland spotted him driving his patrol car backward at an excessive rate of speed and then skid to a stop in front of a bar, according to Noland’s report.
Furmanski allegedly apologized and then was stopped by the same officer 10 minutes later when he ran a red light and drove down a left-turn lane, accelerating to 50 m.p.h., according to the report.
The deputy allegedly failed a field sobriety test and refused to take a blood alcohol test but was eventually released to the custody of his sergeant, who had accompanied Furmanski and several other officers on a training mission.
A local chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving complained to the state attorney general’s office about the Police Department’s failure to pursue the case, and the district attorney’s office eventually filed misdemeanor drunk-driving charges.
In his lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, Furmanski claims that a state Department of Motor Vehicles hearing officer found that there had been no probable cause to arrest him on drunk-driving charges, in part based on testimony from Noland’s partner, Joseph Dupuis, who said Furmanski did not appear to him to be drunk.
Noland, Furmanski alleges, has a history of arresting citizens for drunk driving when they are not legally drunk, a problem that he claims the city is attempting to cover up by destroying past arrest logs detailing faulty arrests and threatening fellow officers with dismissal if they communicate with Furmanski’s attorneys.
In his request for a temporary restraining order Monday, Furmanski sought an order halting destruction of documents and also blocking use of an alleged secret computer file, in which he says false statements about potential witnesses, including Dupuis, are being maintained.
Private Computer File
Although Dupuis has said he did not think Furmanski was drunk, the officers’ supervisor maintained a private computer file in which he had noted that Dupuis had told him that he thought Furmanski was “a righteous deuce” (police slang for legitimate drunk-driving arrest), but that “we don’t arrest cops,” according to documents filed as part of the civil rights case.
San Luis Obispo City Atty. Roger Picquet denied the allegations and called Furmanski’s lawsuit “a frivolous attempt at harassment to prevent officers from doing their jobs.”
“The irony of it is it’s being brought by a peace officer,” he said.
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