MADISON TOWNSHIP, Ohio-- An ambulance-car collision nine months ago is raising questions today about why blood-alcohol tests for a firefighter who was at the wheel of the ambulance were never reported to police.
And the company that insured the other driver -- who caused the crash by running a red light -- also said it was never told about two breath tests which showed that Madison Township firefighter Rick Dropsey's blood-alcohol content was above the legal limit at the time of the July 25 accident.
Dropsey subsequently was suspended for 30 days.
"With the tests results, there is no question you were driving above the State of Ohio's legal (alcohol) limit," fire Chief Rick Evans wrote in his report recommending suspension.
Dropsey, a part-time fire investigator for the Madison department, denies he was impaired. He admitted he had been drinking the night before on his last day of vacation, but insisted he stopped by 2 or 3 a.m., more than nine hours before the accident.
"The bottom line," he said Friday, "was that if I thought there was any problem I would have never come to work that morning."
The lights were flashing and the siren was wailing July 25 as a Madison Township Fire Department ambulance transported a woman to MedCentral/Mansfield Hospital. The two fire department EMTs in the back with the patient didn't suspect that Dropsey might have been intoxicated.
In fact, one of the EMTs had driven the ambulance to the woman's home on Parry Avenue, then asked Dropsey to drive to the hospital so both medical technicians could attend to the woman.
About 12:35 p.m. the ambulance had a green light on Park Avenue East as it approached Foster Street. A 69-year-old woman driving a Cadillac sedan ran the red light on Foster at Park Avenue East and drove into the path of the ambulance.
Dropsey -- who has three awards for heroism in life-saving rescues during his career -- couldn't avoid the car. The ambulance hit the passenger side of the Cadillac.
Madison's ambulance patient was transferred to a Mansfield Fire Department ambulance and taken to MedCentral. The woman driving the car was cited for running a red light.
Police at the crash scene didn't suspect Dropsey might be under the influence of alcohol. Neither did a Madison fire captain called to the scene.
Fire Capt. Jeffrey A. Pate, who said there was no indication Dropsey was impaired, asked Dropsey to take alcohol and drug tests, simply as a routine, procedural matter. Dropsey agreed and was taken to Work Able at MedCentral/Mansfield Hospital.
The first Breathalyzer recorded Dropsey's blood-alcohol content at 0.10. A second test, administered 15 minutes later, registered 0.097.
Both tests showed levels above the state's 0.08 legal limit for a charge of operating a vehicle while intoxicated. Dropsey was immediately placed on administrative leave and 15 days later was given a 30-suspension.
Dropsey didn't protest his suspension, but said the Breathalyzer tests may have been misleading, showing a "residual effect" from alcohol consumption the night before.
Police didn't know about the blood-alcohol tests until this week, when a News Journal inquiry into the accident found the test results in Dropsey's personnel file.
And Erie Insurance, handling claims for the accident as insurer of the woman driving the Cadillac, didn't know either, until the News Journal called with questions.
Should police have been informed about the test results? And did the insurance company have a right to know about them?
Evans, Mansfield police and city officials said both questions are legitimate, but they don't have answers.
Evans said he will seek an answer in a written request to Nancy Massie, the assistant county prosecutor who serves as legal counsel for the fire department.
Police Sgt. Shari Robertson, in charge of the traffic bureau, doesn't have a legal answer to those questions, but she does have a strong opinion.
"It definitely would concern me if someone was involved in a crash and was found to be under the influence and that wasn't brought to the attention of the ... agency (Mansfield police) which took the report," she said.
Assuming that Dropsey's blood-alcohol levels were accurate, she said, "If that is the case, that would concern me why anyone in that situation wouldn't report it. It would concern me not just as a police officer, but also as a private citizen."
Robertson said she couldn't comment specifically on the accident, and the Breathalyzer tests requested by the fire department may have been covered by the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, which restricts release of medical information.
HIPPA regulations can be confusing and conflicting, she said, adding, "This is one of those situations that is not cut and dry. It depends on a totality of the circumstances."
Kelson Dearth, a claims adjuster for Erie Insurance, is handling claims involving the woman who ran the red light. Until the News Journal's inquiry brought Dropsey's tests to light, he had no knowledge of them.
"It obviously is information that the insurance company should have," he said.
Dearth said he couldn't comment further without consulting with his supervisor and could not reveal any details concerning insurance claims.
Mansfield Law Director Dave Remy said whether the Breathalyzer tests should have been reported to police is "a legitimate question," but one Madison officials must answer.
If a similar situation occurred involving a Mansfield Fire Department vehicle, he said, "It would have come to my office for consideration, posing the question, 'Should it be turned over (to police)?'"
In a disciplinary hearing Aug. 9 at the Madison fire station, Evans recommended Dropsey be suspended for 30 days.
That day, Dropsey began serving the suspension. The Madison Township trustees later approved it.
Dropsey said he did not try to appeal the suspension because "they had to go by what the (test) results were."
But, he said, he did not consume any alcohol that day and was not impaired to any degree.
In his statement on the incident, Pate wrote, "I was with Inspector Dropsey for 20 to 30 minutes at the scene of the accident, and nothing that I (had) seen or noticed in his demeanor, actions and gait gave me any cause for suspicion. I also did not notice any odor on his breath or body."
Dropsey said a urine test administered at Work Able was negative and may support his suspicions about the Breathalyzer tests.
"Had I actually been drinking, obviously somebody (at the fire station or the accident scene) would have known it -- law enforcement is trained to recognize that," he said.
Dropsey said police spoke to him for five to 10 minutes at the accident scene and raised no question about his sobriety.
After the first blood-alcohol content reading of 0.10, he said he questioned if the machine was calibrated and working correctly.
"That's why there was the second test," he said. While the second test was only slightly lower, at 0.097, he said the drop might indicate there was no alcohol impairment but the tests detected "some residual effect" from his drinking the night before.
Nurses who administered the tests "said if there was a problem, it (the Breathalyzer reading) would have stayed the same or increased, gone to a higher level," Dropsey said. The lower second test score "was an indication that it might have been some residual left over in my system," he said.
Evans said he recommended a 30-day suspension because his only other choice, besides a longer suspension, was dismissal, and Dropsey had never had a previous disciplinary incident.
"As far Rick's performance, he's doing an outstanding job," Evans said. "He's been a fantastic employee."
Evans said he had to act on the Breathalyzer test results.
"I would assume impairment," he said. "How much? I don't know."
[email protected] 419-521-7272
Originally published April 16, 2006
Republished with permission of The Mansfield News Journal.
Related Stories:
