The Lawrenceville Police Department said goodbye to two veteran officers this week — one who was buried and another who was fired for allegedly driving drunk just hours after the funeral.
Most of the officers within the department attended a funeral Sunday afternoon for retired Lawrenceville police Lt. Frank Otto, a 28-year veteran who had died following a long illness. A department spokesman said that Stuart Gaines, a criminal investigator and 15-year employee, was among the mourners at the memorial service and the burial in Lawrenceville. Other officers saw him leave the Gwinnett Memorial Park Cemetery alone around 4 p.m., said Maj. Paul King Tuesday.
About two hours later, Gaines was driving his unmarked patrol car on Highway 129 in Gainesville when he rear-ended a white Lincoln Towncar, according to the Georgia State Patrol post in Gainesville.
Lawrenceville police department was notified by a trooper that Gaines was being charged with DUI. Gaines’ supervisor met with them at the scene, according to King.
“They detected alcoholic beverage coming from him and felt like with the way he was talking and his demeanor, he was at some level intoxicated,” King said.
Gaines was transported to Northeast Georgia Medical Center for treatment of a cut to the eye. The other driver was also evaluated at the hospital as a precaution after he complained of soreness, King said.
Gaines bonded out of the Hall County jail Sunday and was fired on Monday. The tight-knit department is still reeling from Sunday’s events.
“It was a tough day for the entire department. It started out sadly and ended badly,” he said. “You can tell it around the department that people are upset, but they also understand they are held to a higher standard. There was no choice but to terminate him.”
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I feel for the man, but...just like the rest of us (and as some your other buddies probably did) you go home and drink. Or you call a friend, so you don't accidently end another persons life. I hope you receive the maximum penalty, mostly because you should have known better. There is no excuse for DRUNK DRIVING.
7 comments:
Hey there's no excuse for letting another detective and his girlfriend (ex LPD officer) steal over 150k from a local business either. But hey they can cover that one up. I guess that makes it ok. Over a million stolen and they do nothing but blame and intimidate the victim and cover for their friends. Lawrenceville is a very unsafe place to live because of public corruption.
I am a victim of the same detective that is being investigated. The DA in Gwinnett has covered a lot of stuff up because an Assistant DA that worked with them for years has a step daughter involved in this. The DA has turned the case over to the LPD and here's how that went. I had the number one business of its kind in Georgia for five years in a role according to Dunn & Bradstreet (top 1.4 percent in America). When these 6 people got involved in my business all of the sudden I'm missing about $1,300,000.00. The DA's office tells me they are doing me a favor to look into it. It really doesn't feel like a favor. Evidence has vanished or been lost. The LT in Lawrenceville just yelled at me for accusing his detective of stealing. Thats LT Gary XXXXXXXX .I'll leave it up to whoever reads this. This Detective takes home $379.00 per week after his child support payments come out of his check. His girlfriend (an ex Lawrenceville officer) was in foreclosure on a $30,000.00 property 45 days before this. Somehow they say they paid me $160,000.00 in cash and wrote a check for $21,800.00 for something I owned on top of that. They have no canceled check and the person that wrote them the receipts was just sentenced to 8 yrs federal for fraud. His 5th time in trouble for fraud or stealing. This however didn't do anything but piss the Lawrenceville Police department off when I pointed it out. There's a cover up by a lot of people in powerful positions here. I can prove it. I have contacted the FBI Public Corruption Unit and have met with a federal prosecutor 3 times. I would rather have you guys look into this but am willing to go forward with the federal charges.
My family has been devastated and they have forced me into bankruptcy. We have lost everything. As someone that has worked very hard all their life I am sick of waiting for the very people who should be protecting me just covering up for friends at my families expense. I was 52 yrs old when this happened with perfect credit ,perfect record,never a legal issue,and a company that boasted the number one position in Georgia. I had a great reputation and millions in assets. They along with the powers that be have stolen that from me. When I file Federal charges I will be in the media a lot. I've already been talking to all of them. Again. I'd rather the GBI handle this but I want to feel that it will be handled not covered up because Don XXXXX and Danny XXXXXX are involved. Don XXXXX's step daughter was one of the thieves. I even forwarded some craigslist ads with my stuff pictured at their house for sale with their number to Jack XXXXXXXX with zero response from him. Its my understanding (4 witnesses) that she was caught on film at the bank,ID'd by the teller and the head teller cleaning out some accounts with a fake ID. No police report and the case vanished. Her husband was a dekalb officer and a Lawrenceville officer. He was just arrested for drugs,false ID,and bogus tag (on a truck stolen from me). The next week he was arrested for violating a TPO brought against him by his wife. Don XXXXX's step daughter. I guess he's the next fall guy for them. More cover up. I need help and closure. My family can't move on because we all agree after the last meeting that they will try to get even with me someway by trying to have me arrested or just having Gwinnett Police officers following me some more. I've had windows knocked out of my house ,someone tried to start my house on fire,and received death threats on my cell. I think its from the top. Help this citizen and his family please. I am an ex pro heavy weight boxer and have fought my whole life. None of this scares me a bit. But it upsets my wife and kids (12 & 13). I'd rather this not get uglier. It will unless someone steps in. I'll give this another couple of weeks and I'll finish this with the feds & the media. I've told them I want to wait. Its not what I want to do. Most of my friends are LEO's and I don't want to make them look bad. They matter to me but I can't just roll over for these people. I'm a father of 5 that had a life until it was stolen from me.
Subsequently, this officer/investigator has been fired from another department 1/2013 where he held the rank of Lieutenant. His firing was by his a direct result of his morals, ethics, and character (or lack thereof). Hopefully, this person will never wear a badge and gun again!
Anonymous said...
This man continues to prove that he is only after one thing, and that is power. He does not care how he gets it, just so he can intimidate, harass, and tell lies on others. I think it makes him feel better about his life. He does lack ethics, morals and always will. His character is lacking and those that know him already know that character is not in his vocabulary.
Officer Stuart Gaines is a alcholic and so are many others in the Lawrenceville PD.
I am sorry for the guy that lost uis business,but Stuart Gaines Was not involved in this. He was dismissed as a Lt, but it had nothing to do with his morals. He was the fall guy for his boss posting a racist comment on his Facebook. I know this personally. As the place that let him go, had to write an apology, and mad to make ammends. Nor is he an alchoholic, I've known him for 10 years and never seen him drink more than one drink while at dinner, or a beer or two in the summer. Please know your facts before you run your mouths about people. This could be called decimation of character. Also, if you want to call someone an alcoholic, not be anonymous, be a man or woman and use your own information and not hide.
The person that made these anonymous comments was probably one of the officers that worked for Stuart that was lazy and stupid and had no idea what they were doing. Keep in mind, the chief hired Stuart to come and clean up the department, because, per the Chief, it has been run like a zoo and was a shame of a police department. These people were use to running the place and did not like answering to anyone. That department was a joke.
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