Update — 5:00 p.m.
Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officer David Bisard turned himself into the Marion County Jail Arrestee Processing Center at 4:20 p.m., according to Sheriff Spokesman Julio Fernandez.
He is scheduled for an initial hearing 9 a.m. Thursday.
Update — 2:20 p.m.
Bisard was charged this afternoon with seven felony counts of drunken driving and reckless homicide in a deadly accident involving two motorcycles last week.
A Marion Superior Court judge immediately issued a warrant for Bisard’s arrest, with bond set at $10,000, after charges were filed about 1:30 p.m. today. Bisard’s lead charge is a Class B felony count of operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated, causing death, with a blood-alcohol content at or above 0.15. A Class B felony carries a penalty of six to 20 years in prison or a $10,000 fine.
Bisard also faces a count of reckless homicide and five more counts of operating while intoxicated, causing death or serious bodily injury. All of his charges are felonies of varying levels.
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The late Friday morning crash, which occurred while Bisard was en route to help serve a warrant, killed motorcycle rider Eric Wells and seriously injured two others.
A probable cause affidavit filed today alongside the charges says Bisard’s patrol car likely was traveling 65 to 70 mph with siren blaring before it began skidding on East 56th Street in a failed bid to avoid the motorcycles, which were stopped in the left lane. Bisard’s blood alcohol content tested at 0.19 in a blood draw taken two hours after the incident.
That level is more than twice the 0.08 level at which Indiana drivers are considered drunk.
Bisard was never booked into jail in spite of a previous accident, officials said.
“We have no record of him being here or having been here,” said Marion County Jail spokesman Julio Fernandez.
Public Safety Director Frank Straub confirmed that two hours after the crash Bisard’s blood alcohol content was 0.19, more than twice the legal limit in Indiana.
Bisard’s blood was drawn at Methodist Occupational Health Facility, 1101 Southeastern Ave., where he was being treated for injuries, according to an IMPD report.
IMPD Officer Stan Stephens watched as a nursing assistant drew two vials of blood from Bisard’s right arm.
• FROM TODAY’S STAR: Cop’s blood alcohol was twice legal limit after crash, IMPD says.
Stephens put the tubes in a bio-hazard bag and took them to property room in the basement of the City-County Building.
Stephens noted in his report that no blood was drawn from injured rider Kurt Weekly or Eric Wells, who was killed in the Northeastside crash.
The Marion County prosecutor’s office told the police department Monday night what the results of the blood test were, Straub said at a morning news conference.
Straub and Chief Paul Ciesielski said Bisard wasn’t arrested at the crash scene because he gave no physical indication of being drunk.
‘There was no indication, not in his behavior or the smell on his breath,” Straub said.
Ciesielski said several high ranking police officers talked to Bisard and nobody noticed any intoxication.
Bisard will not be arrested until formal charges are filed, the chief said.
Mayor Greg Ballard, who also attended the news conference, apologized to the injured families on behalf of the city. He said his “heart goes out” to the victims as he described his “shock and sadness at this tragedy.”
“This has an impact in the trust,” citizens will have in the department, Ballard acknowledged.
He also faulted Bisard’s colleagues on the police department who did not intervene and get Bisard help for and apparent drinking or emotional problem.
(3 of 3).
“Someone knew of this human weakness and failed to act,” he said. “No one read the tea leaves.”
Straub said police do not know where Bisard had been drinking beforehand and no alcohol was found in his car.
He had attended his daughter’s soccer game just before the accident.
Before joining IMPD, Bisard worked at the Noblesville Police Department from 1996 until 2001 and was in one accident, said Lt. Bruce Barnes.
According to a Noblesville police report, Bisard drove his police Chevrolet Caprice into the corner of a Firestone tire store on 10th Street on Sept. 17, 1996.
Bisard said in his report he was pulling over someone for a traffic stop and had to swerve to avoid hitting “an elderly gentleman and lady standing on the west corner.”
Bisard had no disciplinary marks on his record, Barnes said.
Everett Powell, who represents the driver of the car in front of the motorcycle, said police took a breathalyzer test of his client Tim Griffith three hours later. Powell said Griffith, 29, Indianapolis, was at the scene for an hour, then left town to attend a basketball game. Police called him and said they forgot to give him a Breathalyzer. They drove out to give it to him, about an hour outside of Indianapolis.
Griffith had no alcohol in his system, Powell said.
The report did not indicate whether Mary Mills was tested with a Breathalyzer.
“Someone knew of this human weakness and failed to act,” he said. “No one read the tea leaves.”
Straub said police do not know where Bisard had been drinking beforehand and no alcohol was found in his car.
He had attended his daughter’s soccer game just before the accident.
Before joining IMPD, Bisard worked at the Noblesville Police Department from 1996 until 2001 and was in one accident, said Lt. Bruce Barnes.
According to a Noblesville police report, Bisard drove his police Chevrolet Caprice into the corner of a Firestone tire store on 10th Street on Sept. 17, 1996.
Bisard said in his report he was pulling over someone for a traffic stop and had to swerve to avoid hitting “an elderly gentleman and lady standing on the west corner.”
Bisard had no disciplinary marks on his record, Barnes said.
Everett Powell, who represents the driver of the car in front of the motorcycle, said police took a breathalyzer test of his client Tim Griffith three hours later. Powell said Griffith, 29, Indianapolis, was at the scene for an hour, then left town to attend a basketball game. Police called him and said they forgot to give him a Breathalyzer. They drove out to give it to him, about an hour outside of Indianapolis.
Griffith had no alcohol in his system, Powell said.
The report did not indicate whether Mary Mills was tested with a Breathalyzer.
