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Official Dismisses Bollea Sample

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By STEPHEN THOMPSON, The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 1, 2008

CLEARWATER - After Nick Bollea's defense attorney accused Clearwater police of sloppy and ethically questionable work, a state hearing officer agreed police did not have enough evidence to take a sample of the teenager's blood after a wreck Aug. 26.

That's the picture that emerges from documents released Friday by the Florida Department of Highway Safety & Motor Vehicles.

The police also used the wrong form to submit the blood sample for analysis, attorney Kevin Hayslett wrote in a motion submitted to the hearing officer with the department. The form had been out of date for seven years, Hayslett said.

After Bollea, the 17-year-old son of former wrestler Hulk Hogan, wrecked a Toyota Supra in Clearwater on Aug. 26, critically injuring passenger John Graziano, Clearwater police took a sample of his blood. Laboratory analysts determined his ethanol serum level was .055, higher than the .02 level allowed for juvenile drivers. This was one of the reasons his license was suspended.

In his motion, Hayslett said an Officer Milne wrote a report Nov. 2, more than two months after the wreck, that Bollea "had blood shot eyes and was quiet, when he spoke his voice was low." But Hayslett said in the motion that there is no police report written at the time of the crash that indicates Bollea might have been under the influence of alcohol.

"It appears that Officer Milne and/or the Clearwater police department recognized they did not possess probable cause to obtain a lawful blood draw and this was a weak attempt to justify their actions after the fact," Hayslett said.

Hayslett submitted four photographs of Bollea, taken at St. Petersburg's Bayfront Medical Center at the same time Bollea's blood was drawn, that show the teenager did not have bloodshot eyes, the documents state.

He also submitted a Nov. 2 probable cause affidavit in which Clearwater traffic homicide investigator Todd Turpack, who is in charge of the investigation, wrote that Bollea had bloodshot eyes and his speech was mumbled.

After Hayslett's argument, hearing officer David Laliberte said in a ruling Tuesday that there was not enough information to support the suspension of Bollea's license based on an unlawful alcohol level.

Bollea's license, however, remains suspended for two other reasons: an unpaid traffic ticket and the felony criminal charge filed against him after the wreck.

Ann Nucatola, a spokeswoman with the motor vehicles department, declined to say whether Laliberte's ruling meant he accepted Hayslett's arguments. She said the documents would have to speak for themselves.

Prosecutors said the hearing officer's decision regarding the status of Bollea's driver's license has little bearing on the criminal allegations against him. Bollea is charged with reckless driving involving serious bodily injury.

Reporter Stephen Thompson can be reached at (727) 451-2336 or spthompson@tampatrib.com.

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