Lawsuit Alleges Utah Trooper Falsified Numerous DUI arrests, What Can a Driver Do?
Salt Lake County, UT- A class-action lawsuit filed against Utah State Trooper Lisa Steed and her superiors alleges that she falsely charged dozens of motorists with driving under the influence.
Corporal Lisa Steed was headed for a promising career, and was commended numerous times for her diligence. However, in November, Steed was fired by the State Highway patrol for alleged misconduct, according to ABC News.
On December 14th, attorneys filed a class-action lawsuit alleging Steed falsified DUI arrests during her 10-year career. Though it is hard to determine exactly how many false arrests Steed is responsible for, the group of attorneys engaged in the lawsuit said they have spoken with 40 different people.
According to the New York Times, attorneys began receiving calls from individuals who were charged with the DUI even though they hadn’t been drinking. Others were charged with intoxicated driving even when they weren’t drunk enough to be over the legal limit.
Robert Sykes, one of the attorneys involved in the lawsuit, told the New York Times that several of his clients didn’t drink at all.
“We were all separately getting calls about Lisa Steed from people saying ‘I was pulled over and I wasn’t even doing anything wrong. She told me I smelled like alcohol but I hadn’t been drinking,” Sykes told the New York Times.
“They would pass the field sobriety tests with flying colors. But Steed would say they were still impaired and charge them anyway.”
The lawyers stated that most of the charges were reduced, but the falsely accused incurred exorbitant, unnecessary DUI-related costs which included bail, impound fees, and court costs often amounting to a thousand dollars or more.
Another attorney involved in the case, Michael Studebaker told ABC News that dash cam footage from a 2011 arrest showed a woman passing field sobriety tests, but Steed arrested her for DUI anyway.
In another incident, Steed pulled over, and stun-gunned Ryan Jones, but tests later revealed he was not intoxicated.
Steed admitted that she has made some mistakes in arrest protocols, but her attorney, Greg Skordas, said only a handful of her thousands of arrests could not be supported by evidence.
“Any mistake by an officer is a problem,” Skordas told the NY Times, “But to have two or three thrown out because of lack of evidence, that doesn’t tell me there is a problem.”
Try to tell that to the people, who were falsely accused, and forced to fight to keep their freedom and driver’s license along with the money that came out of their pockets because of her mistakes.
Attorneys for this class-action lawsuit did not state who much they are seeking in compensation.
Steed is now being investigated by the FBI.
This is similar to an incident in Chicago from 2009. In that incident, 42 people accused Officer Richard Fiorita of falsely arresting them for drinking and driving. He was given a desk job after lawyers firmly established he perjured himself in numerous court cases.
There are a number of things that can lead to a false DUI arrests, and attorneys often question the validity of field sobriety tests. Diabetes, weight, age of the driver and even the type of shoes a person is wearing can make them perform poorly on field sobriety tests.
If you believe you have been falsely charged with intoxicated driving, have rights and can file a civil suit to recoup the expenses of a false arrest. Proving this is a monumental task, but a savvy DUI attorney is capable of building a strong case.
