By Theodore Decker
The Columbus Dispatch
COLUMBUS, Ohio - The off-duty Columbus police officer charged with hitting a 13-year-old boy on his bicycle last month seemed “pretty much out of it” and her bedroom smelled of alcohol when officers talked to her, a Grove City police sergeant has told internal-affairs investigators.
Lisa M. Smith, 43, would not get out of bed for officers but did sign the ticket charging her with misdemeanor counts of failure to control a vehicle and hit-and-run driving, according to transcribed interviews released by Columbus police.
The interview with the sergeant is among those conducted in the ongoing investigation into Smith’s conduct before and after 13-year-old Justin Richie was struck on Nov. 3.
Richie had been riding along Southwest Boulevard when a passing van struck him. He was not seriously injured.
Previously released police reports showed that Smith called in sick from work that day but went to a Grove City bar, Memories Food & Spirits, 3539 Broadway, to watch Ohio State football.
Smith was due to appear in Grove City Mayor’s Court next week, but her attorney, Gregg D. Slemmer, said yesterday that he plans to ask that the case be transferred to Franklin County Municipal Court. He declined further comment.
Smith, a 17-year police veteran, remains behind a desk in the vice unit while the criminal case and internal investigation are pending. A review of her personnel record shows consistently strong work evaluations and a number of commendations.
Grove City police say they located Smith with the help of a motorist who witnessed the hit-skip and followed the van involved to a home on Carrigallen Lane, where Smith had been staying.
In his interview with internal affairs, Grove City Sgt. Gary Schrencengost said officers were outside the house for nearly two hours, trying to get Smith to either come to the door or answer the phone.
They got inside only after receiving the permission of homeowner James Barker Jr., who was out of town, through his mother, police said.
“When I walked in the room, I immediately detected an odor of alcohol,” Schrencengost said.
In explaining why officers didn’t charge Smith with drunken driving, the sergeant said they didn’t have probable cause because too much time had passed in which Smith was alone.
“When I walked into the room there were signs of impairment,” he said. “But she was out of our observation for that time period. I can’t say what she did or didn’t do.”
Grove City Officer Douglas Stonerock told investigators he was irked by the time they finally spoke to her.
“With the way she was acting, I figured professional courtesy was pretty much out the window,” he said. “So she asked where her van was. I told her she could get out of bed and find out where her van was.
“She acted like she had no idea what was going on. Like she had been there the whole time. However, I’ve talked to many people that put her at Memories. That’s where she was drinking at. I could smell the alcohol.”
Copyright 2007 The Columbus Dispatch