Press Enterprise
RIVERSIDE, Calif. — In the hours before officers stopped him last month, Riverside Police Chief Russ Leach mixed 11 drinks with up to five prescription medications, leaving him so intoxicated he had no idea where he was - or that he’d wrecked his city-issued car, authorities said.
Leach, 62, was charged Monday with misdemeanor driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol, and driving with a blood-alcohol level above the legal limit. He was not arrested, but ordered to appear in court for arraignment Thursday.
Officially, he remains on leave as he seeks a medical retirement. He did not respond to calls for comment.
Criminal filings come six weeks after Riverside police first stopped Leach at 2:51 a.m. Feb. 8, declined to give him a sobriety test, drove him home and recommended no further action.
That prompted city officials to hand the case to the California Highway Patrol for an independent review, and open a still-ongoing internal affairs probe.
On Monday, City Manager Brad Hudson said he had “grave concerns” about how the department handled the traffic stop, which he called outside established protocols for suspected intoxication.
“Primary among my concerns in this matter is that the former Chief was provided treatment beyond what other motorists would be afforded in similar circumstances,” Hudson said in a statement.
“I expect all city employees to use common sense, and to provide equitable treatment to all.”
Despite not detaining Leach, his officers noted that he smelled of alcohol, could not stand straight, slurred his speech, and constantly repeated himself, according to a CHP arrest warrant declaration.
“I would hope that people in my department would make different choices,” said CHP Inland Division Chief Jeff Talbott. “For somebody in our position, I think, there’s probably a higher expectation.”
Gathering evidence
CHP officers used interviews, receipts and video to recreate Leach’s Super Bowl Sunday, from his having four Miller Lite beers at home with his fiancée, seven scotches at an area topless bar and his disoriented drive around the city’s Arlington area.
“We needed to believe we could prove how much alcohol was actually consumed,” said Riverside County Supervising Deputy District Attorney Stephanie Weissman. “And there’s a self-admitted indication of drug use.”
Leach told the CHP he took two Vicodin painkillers, two of the anxiety-drug Xanax, one antihistamine Atarax, one of the muscle-relaxant Flexeril and “possibly” two Ambien sleeping pills, the declaration states.
Under California law, DUI is treated as a misdemeanor unless the suspect has caused injuries, or is a repeat offender.
From about 9:30 p.m. Feb.7 to 1:41 a.m. Feb. 8, Leach had visited Club 215 in Colton. He consumed at least seven Chivas Regal scotches there, investigators say, though a club attorney previously said he had only four.
Surveillance video from the club shows him “unsteady on his feet and disoriented,” CHP Sgt. Lance Berns wrote. When Leach left, an employee was apparently so concerned she offered to call him a taxi, but he declined.
‘He was just lost’
Once back in Riverside, the chief did not strike a fire hydrant and streetlight on Central Avenue, as first believed, but ran into an unknown “low-profile” object, investigators said, likely a curb or center median.
He continued driving for miles on the rims of his scratched, dented Chrysler 300.
“We think he was just lost,” Talbott said. “The body damage was caused from disintegration, basically the beating to death of that car from the inside.”
Scuffs on the hydrant and light pole - which Riverside police officers used to determine Leach had hit them - were actually caused by a Nov. 9 collision. But pieces from the rims of Leach’s Chrysler were littered on Van Buren Boulevard.
Three minutes before he was pulled over, the chief ran a red light, caught on camera, at Van Buren and Arlington Avenue.
In this case, prosecutors do not have the benefit of physical evidence, such as a blood, breath or urine test.
“When I was a younger DA, we’d regularly have to prosecute cases like this,” Weissman said, “based on observations and witness statements.”
Officials react
City leaders have said they were not notified of the incident until hours later, a violation of police procedure for high-profile incidents.
On Feb. 11, Assistant Chief John De La Rosa was named acting chief. He has declined to comment throughout the process, including when an ex-police union president accused him of being “complicit” in a department cover-up.
Riverside Mayor Ron Loveridge said officials are trying to move beyond the incident as they search “intensively” for Leach’s replacement. A recruiter will target leaders throughout California, part of a 90-day process costing roughly $25,000.
“The chief made indefensible personal choices,” he said.
Until the crash, Leach was seen as an effective leader through the tumultuous years police were under state-mandated oversight. He was lauded for his community relations, improving a department image tarnished by the fatal 1998 Tyisha Miller shooting.
“The credibility of the department and city government is null and void,” said Alex Tortes, an Eastside community leader who worked for the Riverside Police Department for 33 years.
“Their failure to do what they should have done obviously has lost the confidence of the community.”
‘The only decision’
Patrol car video from Leach’s traffic stop shows him “unsteady on his feet” and “intoxicated to the point where he was unsure of the condition of his vehicle or the circumstances leading up to” being pulled over, the CHP declaration states.
Riverside police officers also reported their boss had watery eyes, the strong odor of alcohol, slurred speech and uncharacteristic repetitive speech, Berns wrote.
“Both officers formed the opinion that Mr. Leach was driving under the influence,” he wrote.
What the declaration does not state, and what city leaders are investigating, is who made the decision for the officers to act against their judgment and not administer a sobriety test or make an arrest.
“It wasn’t handled properly, I don’t think, but this is nothing new in government,” said Dell Roberts, a longtime leader in Riverside’s black community.
Talbott, who led the CHP’s criminal probe, said the situation reminded him of one he saw from the inside - albeit with a different end.
In 2006, he responded when the CHP Inland Division’s then-assistant chief, Mike Maples, was stopped on suspicion of DUI.
Maples had crashed his state-issued cruiser into another car parked in front of his Reche Canyon home.
He later pleaded guilty to driving over the legal limit.
“The determination was to make an arrest right on scene,” Talbott said.
“That’s the only decision you can make in those situations.”
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