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By Kenneth C. Rossignol
ST. MARY’S TODAY

ST. JAMES (May 14, 2008) --- St. Mary’s Sheriff’s Deputy David Goff, while off duty, stopped a man who was traveling on the side of Rt. 235 near St. James on Tuesday evening, left his truck running with the driver’s door open and his wife, child and dog in the truck in the middle of the highway, and after an exchange of words, began beating the man, even when another deputy showed up at the scene.

ST. MARY’S TODAY has learned that Deputy Goff was drunk…very drunk, he was reportedly a .18, which is about twice the legal limit.

Shane Weasenforth, a typical “Ridge Runner”, a segment of the down-county population who pay little attention to hunting seasons, spend vast amounts of time on their all-terrain vehicles riding through swamps, fields and forests and sometimes pour nitro in their fuel and leave local cops in their dust, much like the ‘Dukes of Hazard’ is the first to admit that he is not an angel but is a fellow who’s scrapes with the law have always been fairly minor.
Weasenforth says that as he was riding his ATV on the shoulder of the road, where he had gone out on the edge of the highway, a traffic violation that he readily admits to, that as he was in the area of Mattaponi Road, he was suddenly approached by the man in civilian clothes who began cursing him and claiming he was a deputy.

“I was going to the next trail and this guy stopped right in the lane of 235, he had his wife and child with him, he ran over to me and shoved me, was cursing and said that he going to lock me up, I told him I didn’t do anything wrong to arrest me and if he was going to give me a ticket to go ahead, I am on probation and wasn’t going to give him a hard time,” said Weasenforth.

“I drove the ATV off the roadway into my cousin’s driveway and I looked around and Deputy (Dale) Reppel drove up, I know him, he was in his police car but in plain clothes,” said Weasenforth. “This deputy (Goff) was reeking of alcohol and I told Deputy Reppel that the man was stone drunk, he was just screaming at me to get on the ground. I have been arrested before and I know the drill, I am not about to resist arrest, I just want to go through the process and see the commissioner.”

“He said that he was going to impound my ATV, I told him, go ahead, I would just go get another one and he went off, I couldn’t understand it, he screamed at me to get on the ground, when he started beating me over the head, Deputy Reppel was just stunned, I asked Reppel why he was letting this drunk cop beat me, he didn’t answer, I just told myself I would be still and take the ass-whipping like a man. Reppel was trying to figure out what to do, and other cops then showed up and Reppel was then on my back and the drunk cop kept on hitting me in the head and bashing my head into the ground,” said Weasenforth.

According to police, Deputy Reppel acted properly in stopping the drunken deputy from further attacking Weasenforth and acting upon the probable cause as told to him by the drunk deputy, arrested Weasenforth for assault and resisting arrest, claiming that Weasenforth had spit on the drunk deputy.

Deputy John J. Kirkner wrote in a statement of charges, “According to Reppel, while on the ground, despite repeated commands by Reppel to place his hands behind his back, the defendant resisted those commands.”

Dfc. Kirkner admitted in the charging documents, that the sober Weasenforth, denied he had spit or attempted to assault the intoxicated deputy and that Deputy Goff had shown his badge and identified himself as “sheriff”.

Weasenforth, in an interview with ST. MARY’S TODAY, accompanied by his fiancé who witnessed the attack and by his attorney, David Weiskopf, said that about five other deputies arrived at the scene and he asked them to give the drunken deputy a breathalyzer test, which they refused. A test given to him later showed him to be at .18, about an hour or so after the incident, which indicates that he had an even higher level at the time of the incident.

It is standard police procedure to administer a preliminary breath test to suspected drunk drivers on the side of the road to get a first indication of the amount of alcohol in the blood stream of the motorist. Witnesses at the scene asked the officers to give the drunken deputy a PBT but they declined.

Deputy Goff was scheduled to work the midnight shift on Tuesday, just a few hours after the incident, meaning he would have reported for duty intoxicated.
Alcoholism affects police officers as much as the rest of society and generally those who work the most with an alcoholic are aware that they have a drinking problem.
Police experts say that there is no room for an officer to be drinking, driving and assaulting a citizen and still remain a police officer.

Goff has established a reputation in the couple of years he has been a deputy as being a professional and low-key officer. He has earned praised from the public and respect from other officers. He had been employed at Brinsfield Funeral Home in Leonardtown prior to becoming a deputy. ST. MARY’S TODAY has learned that Goff is a daily customer at liquor stores in the area.
Sheriff Tim Cameron said that an active investigation into the conduct of the deputy was underway and a decision on what charges to bring will be made at the conclusion of the investigation.
St. Mary’s State’s Attorney Richard Fritz was at the Sheriff’s headquarters on Tuesday evening and reviewed the chump charges placed against Weasenforth.

Weasenforth should have been charged with operating an unlicensed vehicle on the shoulder of the road but the assault and resisting arrest charges clearly appear to be contrived and Sheriff Cameron admits that they could be dismissed.

“We do not condone any misconduct on the part of our deputies and we have a zero tolerance towards anyone, with a badge or not, operating a vehicle while intoxicated,” said Cameron.

Sheriff Cameron, while he said on Wednesday that he could not yet discuss the investigation, said it was real simple, “We don’t train these people to do things like this and we are very embarrassed and we will prove to the public that they can have confidence in the Sheriff’s Department.”

Cameron was asked if he had requested another police agency to handle the investigation.
“No, and we are not going to,” said Cameron. “I have confidence in our internal affairs investigators Mike Gardiner and David Yingling and they are straight shooters and are going to uncover the facts.”
Deputy Kirkner allowed Weasenforth to call his lawyer from the back seat of the police car, an action will shows that the other officers who arrived at the scene weren’t too happy with what they saw.

Based on the statements made by a highly intoxicated law enforcement officer, resulted in Weasenforth being charged with “…assault on David Goff in the second degree in violation of CR 3-203, contrary to the form of the act of assembly in such case made and provided and against the peace, government and dignity of the state.”

Weasenforth was also charged with resisting arrest.

The probability of criminal assault charges being placed against Deputy Goff are high and the circumstances kick in the provisions of the Police Officers Bill of Rights, which will extend the procedures against him but, actions against other police officers who have committed crimes in other parts of the state have usually resulted in them being fired.

But not always.

When Deputy Lyle Long assaulted a 15-year-old boy who’s parents had requested him to give their pot-smoking kid a good talking to, knocked the boy unconscious and was later charged, he was represented by Fritz, prior to being elected States Attorney in 1998, who got him off the charges by entering Long into an anger management class.

Long was then promoted to the rank of Lieutenant and retired from the Sheriff’s Department two years ago and has been hired by Fritz as his investigator in the States Attorneys Office, and making an appearance before the St. Mary’s Commissioners this week managed to keep his anger under control while he made a pitch for more money for the State’s Attorney to buy equipment.

Captain Steven Doolan of the St. Mary’s Sheriff’s Department was found to have released seized building supplies, held in the property held lock up of the police after it was seized in a court-ordered raid of a local drug dealer, as revealed in news stories in ST. MARY’S TODAY in June of 2002. Doolan, in what amounted to grand theft, illegally gave an entire tractor-trailer load, to his best friend and to his stepson and other supplies were taken by other deputies. Long learned of the stolen loot and failed to notify then-Sheriff Richard Voorhaar, who then decided to not run for reelection.

A State Prosecutor’s investigation revealed much of the loot stolen by the deputies and some of the material was recovered.

Deputy Cara Grumbles lied on official reports about the incident as part of her investigation and nonetheless was later promoted in rank instead of being fired.

Sheriff David Zylak failed to fire Doolan and after a trial board was finally convened in 2005 and recommended that Doolan be dropped in rank to sergeant, Doolan was allowed to retire. He never was charged by Fritz, but Doolan’s wife, the head of security at Eagan McAlister Associates, where much of the loot was believed stolen, was also Fritz’s campaign treasurer.

Sheriff Cameron defeated Zylak in the 2006 election, in no small part due to the Loot Affair, and Zylak’s failure to either charge any crooked cops or to fire them.

But Cameron said he cannot at this time make any statements about the facts but promised that the public will be provided an honest investigation of the incident.

In personnel actions since taking office, Cameron has terminated two deputies.