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Manatee Deputy's Wife Gets Ride At Checkpoint

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By Michael A. Scarcella, Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Published: November 9, 2007

BRADENTON - The wife of a Manatee County sheriff's deputy was given a ride home from a DUI checkpoint last month even though a deputy smelled alcohol, according to a report released Thursday.

Authorities said Wendy Getman, the wife of Manatee deputy Brett Getman and daughter-in-law of Manatee Commissioner Ron Getman, did not appear to be intoxicated at the checkpoint. A report said she was driven home simply to "err on the side of caution."

But Getman was not required to take the same field sobriety tests that 21 other drivers were put through at the Oct. 19 checkpoint in the 2200 block of 53rd Avenue East in Bradenton.

Four men were arrested on DUI charges.

One expert said the Manatee County Sheriff's Office was playing favorites that night.

Frank Shoemaker, a former Manatee sheriff's supervisor who is an expert in DUI investigations, said deputies did not perform their duties properly.

"They were not being fair and objective toward the other drivers that were going through that checkpoint," said Shoemaker, former law enforcement training coordinator at the sheriff's office. He now testifies in court as a private consultant in DUI cases.

Manatee sheriff's officials said in their three-page administrative inquiry that Sgt. Paul Fieber, who was in charge of the checkpoint and made the decision to have Wendy Getman driven home, did nothing wrong other than allowing his son, Cory Fieber, an ex-deputy, to drive her and her car there.

Another officer then drove to the Getman home, off Lockwood Ridge Road, to get Cory Fieber, who authorities said had been on a ride-along with the Bradenton Beach Police Department.

The Getmans live less than three miles from the checkpoint, which was in operation from 11 p.m. to 3 a.m.

Sheriff's spokesman Dave Bristow said Fieber could be reprimanded.

Bristow called Fieber's decision to let his son drive a "common sense" error.

Someone else should have picked up Getman, the spokesman said.

Bristow said the sheriff's office does not go easy on drunken drivers. Four Manatee County deputies were arrested this year in crashes that authorities said were alcohol-related.

"If somebody's drunk, they're drunk," Bristow said. "But it's not against the law to drink."

Fieber did not return a call left on his cell phone, and an e-mail left earlier this week by the Sarasota Herald-Tribune was not returned. Wendy Getman, 35, a registered nurse since 1994, did not return a call left at her home.

Her father-in-law, Manatee Commissioner Ron Getman, a former commander of the Florida Highway Patrol in Bradenton, declined to discuss specifics of the case.

"There's always more to it than you hear," Commissioner Getman said. "I imagine that will come out in the inquiry."

Fieber is a supervisor in the sheriff's traffic enforcement unit; he was honored in 2005 for leading a team of church members in disaster relief work following Hurricane Katrina.

The investigation into Getman's treatment began after administrators heard rumors that a deputy's wife was intoxicated and had avoided arrest at the checkpoint by being driven home, according to the report.

But after interviewing those present, investigators determined that she had probably not been intoxicated.

Deputy Aaron Bowen told investigators that Wendy Getman pulled into the checkpoint calmly and said he saw no indicators of alcohol impairment until Getman was about to leave.

Bowen was returning Getman's license when he smelled a "slight odor of alcohol" coming from the vehicle, the report said. Getman was alone.

Bowen called over Fieber, the supervisor.

Getman, according to Fieber, appeared to have been drinking. But Fieber said he did not think Getman was near Florida's legal limit for alcohol.

Getman, according to both Fieber and Bowen, carried herself with no obvious signs of impairment - such as bloodshot or watery eyes, slurred speech or poor motor skills.

Getman, however, was not asked to take field sobriety tests, which include the one-legged stand and a walk-and-turn exercise.

Shoemaker said the odor of alcohol immediately gives a deputy reasonable suspicion to request that the driver perform field sobriety tests.

The mere odor of a beverage is not enough evidence to support a DUI arrest.

It is the cumulative picture - eyes, motor skills, speech and other factors including a blood-alcohol test - that can lead to such a result, Shoemaker said.

Shoemaker said it was unusual for an officer to let a driver go after smelling alcohol, however faint.

Bristow, the sheriff's spokesman, said allowing a driver to leave without undergoing the battery of tests does not happen regularly.

One of the drivers arrested at the same checkpoint that night said he could have used a break, too.

"I wish I got a ride home," he said.

In that case, a deputy smelled alcohol on the man, as was the case with Getman. But the man was given sobriety tests and a blood-alcohol test, and was then arrested.

The next DUI checkpoint is scheduled for tonight in south Manatee County beginning about 10:30 p.m. Authorities do not announce the exact location.

Sarasota Herald-Tribune staff writer Frank Gluck contributed to this report.

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