By JANELLE STECKLEIN
Herald-Banner Staff
GREENVILLE
March 14, 2008 12:02 am
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A 911 call and a copy of the offense report filed regarding a December 2007 driving while intoxicated investigation involving the alleged driver of a wrecked Hunt County patrol vehicle have been released.
The information was released following the filing by the Herald-Banner of two separate Freedom of Information (FOI) requests.
West Tawakoni resident Tiffany Bates was arrested in February 2008 following a DPS investigation into a patrol vehicle accident that took place a half-mile from her home. The patrol vehicle was issued to her now ex-boyfriend and former Hunt County Patrol Sgt. Allen Wade Hammond. Law enforcement officials have accused her of driving the vehicle into a tree that night under the influence of alcohol.
Bates has claimed she was not driving the vehicle nor involved in the accident that night. She said she has been falsely accused and arrested for the accident.
Following a FOI request filed with Hunt County County Attorney Joel Littlefield, Littlefield released a copy of the 911 call made Dec. 4 by the individual who discovered the accident.
The caller, whose name and phone number have been edited off of the tape by the Herald-Banner to protect his privacy, noted several times during the 911 call that he found Hammond behind the wheel.
The caller details to a Hunt County 911 operator part of what he saw that night:
911 caller: “(The officer) hit a tree. He appears to be drinking.”
American Medical Response representative: “Any injuries that you know of?”
911 caller: “Well he’s injured. I don’t know how bad.”
Dispatcher: “Was there anybody else in the car with him?”
911 caller: “He says his girlfriend.”
Dispatcher: “His girlfriend was in the car, and she’s not in it now?”
911 caller: “Well, he said his girlfriend was driving, but he’s the one that’s under the steering wheel.”
Later in the conversation, an officer, who does not identify himself on the tape, speaks to the dispatcher and identifies the officer found in the car.
Officer: “It’s Wade.”
Dispatcher: “It’s Wade?
Officer: “Uh-huh.”
Dispatcher: Was he by himself because he’s telling the man that I was just talking to that there was a female in the car with him. Has she been thrown clear or ...?”
Officer: “He’s by himself right now.”
The 911 call in its entirety is available at heraldbanner.com.
DPS releases offense report
As the result of a separate FOI request to the Department of Public Safety in Austin, officials with that office have released the offense report providing additional details of what went on that night.
The offense report written Dec. 10, 2007, and approved by a DPS supervisor on Dec. 27, 2007, gives a brief synopsis of the “traffic stop resulting in an Driving While Intoxicated Arrest at Large of Tiffany R. Bates.”
The report, which was filed by the DPS investigating officer, notes that a breath test was offered to Bates, but that she refused.
Also included in the report is a brief synopsis filed by a DPS investigator of the events that transpired that night.
“On 12/4/07, I was called to work a Hunt County crash on a patrol vehicle,” the synopsis reads. “Once on scene, I observed only one person at the accident scene other than the officers on scene. Upon further investigation it was revealed that Tiffany Bates was the operator of the vehicle. Bates was asked to go to the Hunt County Sheriff’s Office where she was later arrested for Driving While Intoxicated. Bates was asked to perform the Standardized Field Sobriety Tasks (SFST’s) where she yielded numerous clues. Bates was released and filed at large for Driving While Intoxicated.”
However, according to Hunt County Jail arrest paperwork, Bates was not actually arrested and booked into the jail until Feb. 7, 2008 — more than a month after the DPS investigator’s report was filed apparently indicating that as of Dec. 10, 2007, Bates had already been arrested. According to reports, officers did start to arrest Bates’ early in the morning of Dec. 5, 2007, but stopped and never booked her into jail. A warrant for Bates’ arrest was not issued until mid-January.
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