Russ Leach
10:35 PM PST on Tuesday, February 9, 2010
By PAUL LAROCCO and ALICIA ROBINSON
The Press-Enterprise
Riverside’s police chief is being investigated after a single-vehicle hit-and-run crash in his city-issued car about 3 a.m. Monday, officials said.
The city placed Russ Leach on medical leave Tuesday. Leach, hired in 2000, did not respond to requests for comment.
Riverside police initially took the investigation, but “in its best interest,” Assistant Chief John DeLaRosa handed it over to the California Highway Patrol on Tuesday afternoon, CHP Inland Division Chief Jeff Talbott said.
The CHP is probing separate allegations that Leach was driving while impaired and that responding Riverside police officers omitted that suspicion from their initial report, Talbott said.
“At this point, the physical evidence is gone,” Talbott said. “If there’s any impairment, our investigation will be based solely on the interviews of witnesses, which will be Riverside police.”
Talbott said that receiving the case nearly two days later presents challenges.
“We’re at somewhat of a disadvantage,” he said.
The wreck occurred near Central and Hillside avenues in Riverside. Leach apparently struck a fire hydrant and a streetlight with his black Chrysler 300, Talbott said.
In a statement Tuesday, the city manager’s office said Leach was not injured.
His own patrol officers stopped the chief at Arlington Avenue and Rutland Street, more than 3 miles from where the wreck occurred, Talbott said. His car had two blown tires and suffered heavy fender damage, the CHP commander said.
Talbott said it was unclear whether the chief knew officers were pursuing him before he pulled over.
CHP officers were sent back out the crash scene Tuesday evening to scour for evidence, and Leach’s damaged car was retrieved.
Riverside police did not respond to verbal or written requests for crash details. City Attorney Greg Priamos also did not return calls.
The outside investigation comes as city leaders said they have received multiple calls.
To read entire story, click here.
another peek as to how ‘the connected’ are treated…what a shame…and the cover-up begins with the first cops on the scene… tweek the report…no breath-test…no foul for the county elite…any reporting on this yet? Don’t expect the riverside CHP to do the job in getting to the bottom of this….remember saul martinez cover-up!
truthseekerSBC, your pretty much correct, but I would not sell the CHP short at this time, at least until all is said and done.
If you recall in the last couple years the CHP has hooked and booked some of their own high ranking officials for DUI, then put it in the papers. I mean they arrested one Chief who was in the driveway of his own house.
I’ll bet this Chief will be retiring soon, should be no surprise to our readers.
98% percent sure this was a DUI collision at 3:00am. If the Chief was out at a favorite watering hole, they may be able to at least see how long he had been drinking.
This is a clear case of hit&run though.
I just wonder how many times this Chief fired his employees for less?
It will also be interesting to see what the City does to those cops who first arrived on scene with the Chief, since it appears there might have been cover up.
Well he will just retire and get is 100% salary ,and or probably get another job in another city as well .So who really wins