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Pasco Deputy Suspended For Actions During Stop

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By LISA A. DAVIS

ldavis@tampatrib.com

Published: January 23, 2009

NEW PORT RICHEY - Three months after a Pasco deputy who reportedly smelled of alcohol and had been driving nearly 100 mph in Pinellas was fired, a second deputy who was in the car has been suspended.

An internal affairs investigation was completed late last week, and Pasco Deputy Kurt Hentschel will be suspended for two days, sheriff's office spokesman Kevin Doll said today.

According to report, Hentschel was urinating on the side of the road when a Pinellas deputy pulled up behind the car Deputy Jose Berrios was driving on Keystone Road.

Pinellas sheriff's Sgt. John Daniels clocked Berrios' personal silver Dodge Charger at 98 mph at 1 a.m. Sept. 21 when the two deputies and another man were returning from the Round Up Country Western Nightclub in Tampa on the Pinellas County line. Berrios admitted to passing cars in a no-passing zone moments before he stopped.

Berrios, 25, smelled of alcohol and was glassy-eyed, according to reports.

Both men identified themselves as sheriff's deputies and said they had been drinking, reports state, but Berrios said he was the designated driver and only had a couple of drinks. Daniels allowed them to call for a ride and leave, the report said, and then he reported them to a Pasco sheriff's lieutenant.

Internal affairs investigations were begun on the two deputies.

Even though Berrios wasn't arrested, his actions were enough for Pasco Sheriff Bob White to loose confidence in him and fire him in October.

Hentschel, a former Port Richey police officer, was hired by the sheriff's office in December 2006 and has no previous violations of policies and procedures while at the agency.

After Internal Affairs Inspector Christine Armstrong's investigation, it was determined that Hentschel's behavior that night was unbecoming of an officer. Hentschel admitted to urinating on the side of shoulder of the road and not in the roadway where traffic could see, as was alleged. He also admitted to drinking five vodka and pineapple juice drinks, a report states.

Hentschel hasn't taken the suspension yet and it wasn't clear when that would actually happen, Doll said.

Reporter Lisa A. Davis can be reached at (727) 815-1083.

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