By Paul Aker
WBNS-10TV
Columbus Dispatch
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Columbus police are investigating why the daughter of a veteran officer wasn’t arrested at the scene of a fatal crash she was involved in -- even though she had a suspended driver’s license and two outstanding warrants.
Internal-affairs investigators want to determine whether the officers who went to the scene of the crash on June 13 in Driving Park violated departmental policy by failing to arrest Alaina L. Greene, the daughter of Sgt. Charles R. Greene, a member of the force since 1979.
Alaina Greene was driving a Lincoln Town Car west on Kent Street about 6 p.m. when she collided with a motor scooter driven by Brian A. Jefferson, 35, of Columbus. Jefferson, who had been traveling south on Miller Avenue, died later at Grant Medical Center.
“Right now, internal-affairs investigators are looking into this to make sure the proper policy was followed ... and to investigate why there was no enforcement action taken,” said Sgt. Rich Weiner, a Columbus police spokesman.
Typically at a crash scene, police check the records of those involved using the Law Enforcement Automated Data System, or LEADS, a computerized database administered by the State Highway Patrol. If outstanding warrants pop up, officers appear to have little wiggle room under departmental policy.
“If there are warrants, we will take people to jail,” Weiner said.
“The question is whether one (a record check) was done that day. We’re looking into that.”
Apparently, under departmental policy, a record check is not mandatory unless a violation is suspected.
“It’s officer’s discretion,” Weiner said.
Records from the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles indicate that Alaina Greene’s license had been suspended for at least five weeks at the time of the fatal crash.
The records also show a drug-related license suspension in 2002, as well as violations in October and January for driving without a license.
A record check by WBNS-TV (Channel 10) turned up the two outstanding warrants -- one stemming from a failure to appear in court and another related to charges of theft and receiving stolen property.
Six days after the fatal crash -- and after the TV station began questioning Columbus police about their actions -- officers arrested Greene on the warrants. She has not been charged in connection with the June 13 collision.
Both Sgt. Greene and his daughter declined to comment.
Jefferson’s family, which recently held a $7-a-plate barbecue to raise money for funeral expenses, said the loss would be even harder to bear if it turned out that police handled the crash improperly.
“That,” said George Walker, Jefferson’s father, “would be a bitter pill to swallow.”
Copyright 2009 Columbus Dispatch