Suspended Indianapolis Metro Police Officer David Bisard has been arrested for Operating a vehicle While Intoxicated (OWI) following an accident Saturday afternoon in Lawrence.
According to sources, Bisard blew a .16 on an alcohol breath test but refused a chemical test, so he was taken to the hospital for a blood draw.
Officers were dispatched to the 10000 block of Indian Lake Boulevard South in Lawrence around 2:30 p.m. for a property damage accident. Police say Bisard was the driver of the vehicle involved in the accident.
Police say Bisard smelled of alcohol and that he failed a field sobriety test and a Breathalyzer test at the scene of the crash. According to police, Bisard was eastbound on Indiana Lake Boulevard when he struck a speed limit sign, knocking it down, and then hit the guardrail.
Lawrence Police walked Bisard into Wishard Hospital for a blood draw. They arrived in an unmarked vehicle and Bisard was taken inside handcuffed. After the blood draw, Bisard was taken to the Marion County Arrestee Processing Center.
Bisard's Attorney John Kautzmann tells Eyewitness News he is not commenting on his client's arrests nor his possible release from jail.
IMPD Chief Rick Hite told Eyewitness News he was aware of Bisard's arrest Saturday and that it's in the hands of the prosecutors.
August 2010 crash
David Bisard was involved in an August 2010 crash that resulted in the death of motorcyclist Eric Wells. Two others, Mary Mills and Kurt Weekly, were critically injured in the crash and Weekly has permanent brain damage.
Bisard was charged with reckless homicide and other charges in connection with the crash. A blood alcohol content test determined he was over twice the legal limit to drive at the time of the crash. But botched procedures - both with the blood draw itself and later in the IMPD evidence room - led to drunk driving charges being thrown out.
Last year, an appeals court ruled that the blood draw could be allowed as evidence. Bisard's attorneys had argued that the blood draw should not be allowed on the grounds that the medical assistant who took the blood had not followed proper protocols and that the draw should have been taken at a hospital, not a clinic.
In September, the appeals court ruled that the medical assistant did in fact follow physician-approved protocols, "and that the statutes cited by Bisard do not reflect that the General Assembly intended to suppress blood evidence taken in a medical facility by a trained operator in the presence of the suspect's lawyer. We therefore reverse."
A trial date has been set for October 15th, 2013.
Meantime, the city has agreed to pay Weekly and Mills, who are married, a total of $2.3 million. Weekly was awarded $1.35 million and Mills $975,000.
A $1.5 million settlement was reached with the family of Eric Wells in June 2012.
Recent developments:
March 4: IMPD officers, demoted after Bisard crash, now promoted - The Indianapolis Metro Police Department promoted some of its officers to high-ranking positions Monday. Ronald Hicks and John Conley both played roles at the scene where suspended Officer David Bisard is accused of crashing into three motorcycle riders while driving drunk in August 2010.
Ronald Hicks was promoted to Assistant Chief of Police and John Conley is now Commander of the Southeast District. Both were promoted in a ceremony held in the Chief's Conference Room.
Hicks and Conley, along with then- Assistant Chief Darryl Pierce, were demoted a few weeks after the Bisard crash, which claimed the life of Eric Wells, due to a "failure in leadership" amid claims of a flawed investigation. Bisard's blood alcohol content was tested at well over the legal limit, but drunk driving charges were thrown out on a technicality stemming from the way the blood sample was handled.
Jan. 3: IMPD evidence room undergoes changes after Bisard blood removed - Critical blood evidence from a deadly drunk driving case against Officer David Bisard was mistakenly removed from a refrigeration unit in the IMPD property room and transferred to storage. It sat unrefrigerated from mid-November 2011 to April 2012.
Police Chief Paul Ciesielski stepped down and the FBI stepped in to investigate. But the only culprit found was outdated and poorly constructed property room guidelines.
13 Investigates and its cameras ventured inside the property room for a rare look at how evidence in some of the city's worst and highest profile cases are now stored.
