Lake Placid officer fired following drunk driving stop

Lake Placid Police Officer Bonnie Pruitt was fired from the department late Thursday afternoon after an internal investigation concluded that she violated policy in regards to job knowledge and neglect of duty, according to Chief Phil Williams.

An internal investigation was conducted after a citizen complaint was filed into Pruitt's handling of a possible drunk driver on July 31. When contacted Friday about the investigation and subsequent termination, Pruitt, 56, said she had no comment at this time.

Williams said Pruitt received the DUI complaint from dispatch around 10 p.m. that evening. A citizen followed an alleged drunk driver to the Gate station in Lake Placid, he said.

The complainant was reportedly behind the suspected drunk driver in line while waiting to pay for gas.

"He said he could smell alcohol on him," Williams said.

Pruitt arrived on the scene and felt that the man was not drunk, but rather sick from diabetes, according to Williams.

"She also tells dispatch this," he said.

This was the same information the officer reportedly gave to the complainant in a follow-up phone call. He said he would look into the matter further.

The internal affairs investigative report states that Pruitt maintained to Williams the man was suffering from a diabetic situation and that his breath had a "fruity smell."

She said she had family members who suffered from diabetes and had seen them suffer negative reactions to the disease, according to the report.

"I (Williams) asked Officer Pruitt why she did not contact medical services if she believed the subject to be suffering from what could be a medical emergency," the report stated. "Officer Pruitt states she was wrong for not contacting EMS."

During the investigation, Pruitt said the subject did not appear to be staggering and was walking straight, according to the report.

"Questioned how far that was, Officer Pruitt indicated from the rear end of his truck back to his driver's door, about five or ten feet," the report stated.

The investigation also reportedly found that Pruitt did not activate the in-car video system at any time during the call.

"Without the in-car video narration or video evidence, the actual level of impairment cannot be determined," according to the report.

Williams said the subject did not speak English, and Pruitt enlisted the aid of someone at the gas station to serve as an interpreter. He added that Pruitt did not know the interpreter and couldn't produce him during the course of the internal investigation. The report states that Pruitt tried to find the interpreter around town through facial recognition.

It was through the interpreter that Pruitt asked the subject if he had been drinking, and she believed he said he'd had two beers earlier and deduced he was either drunk or sick, the report stated.

Pruitt reportedly was not going to let the man drive home, so she asked the interpreter if he had a good driver's license and was told no. She then asked a young man in the parking lot if he had a good license and was told yes, according to the report.

The officer reportedly told the young man they were going to take the subject home in his car, with her following.

A check of computer records found that Pruitt ran a driver's license check on the subject, but not on the interpreter or the young man she'd told to drive the man home.

Results of investigation

Pruitt told Williams that she could have awoken fellow Lake Placid officers Eddie San Miguel or Mostyn Mullins for an interpreter, according to the report. It was pointed out that the interpreter could have told the subject anything and they had no way of determining what was said. She also said she should have had the video system on, so the incident could be viewed and analyzed later.

"Questioned whether she felt that was a mistake and a policy violation, Pruitt said yes," the report stated.

Williams said he spoke with the subject - via an interpreter - during the investigation. The man admitted to the chief he'd had three beers and it was probably too much to be driving.

"He had been home eating supper and decided to go to the gas station and fill up his tank so it (could) be ready for the morning to go to work," according to the report.

The man also said he was not sick that night, according to Williams. He added that he was not tested in any way to see if he had been drinking, nor was he asked if he wanted a paramedic to see him.

At the end of the investigation, Williams found that Pruitt violated the following department's policies: neglect of duty and job knowledge and performance.

Pruitt was also found to be in violation of abusiveness, following a separate incident where she reportedly told another officer that he was given his position "just to shut him up."

"Just put all those things together and it's an unacceptable set of circumstances and a violation of our policy," Williams said Thursday.

He added that it was a tough decision to make because Pruitt was a well-liked officer. She had been with the department off and on as both a full- and part-time employee since March 10, 2003.

"This is the hardest decision that I've ever made in my whole career," Williams said.