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Attorney Releases Post-Crash Photograph Of Bollea

Photo released by defense attorney Kevin Hayslett

Nick Bollea's defense attorney claims this photo proves Bollea did not have bloodshot eyes after a car crash in August.

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TBO.com

Published: March 7, 2008

CLEARWATER - Nick Bollea's defense attorney released a picture of Bollea in the hospital that he says helped persuade a state hearing officer to rule in his client's favor last week.

Attorney Kevin Hayslett said the picture proves Bollea did not have bloodshot eyes, as a Clearwater police officer wrote in a report more than two months after a wreck that left Bollea's friend brain-damaged.

Hayslett accused Clearwater police of sloppy and ethically questionable work, and a state hearing officer agreed that police did not have enough evidence to take a sample of the teenager's blood after a wreck Aug. 26.

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 The form had been out of date for seven years, Hayslett said.

After Bollea the 17-year-old son of Terry Bollea, who is 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 0.055, higher than the 0.02 level allowed for juvenile drivers. This was one of the reasons his license was suspended.

In his motion, Hayslett says an Officer Milne wrote in a report dated Nov. 2 that Bollea "had blood shot eyes and was quiet, when he spoke his voice was low." But Hayslett says 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 wrote.

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 he 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.

Tribune reporter Stephen Thompson and News Channel 8 reporter Mark Douglas contributed to this story.

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