Former Montgomery County Asst. Fire Chief Greg DeHaven, who was fired after his involvement in a four-car pileup on Interstate 270 that followed a day of drinking at a Redskins game, is suing to get his job back, court records show.
Evidence filed in county circuit court by DeHaven’s lawyer as part of the lawsuit described the assistant chief as severely impaired in the aftermath of the crash, and suggested police may have offered him special treatment at the scene.
DeHaven was fired in March, four months after he crashed a county sport utility vehicle into three cars, including a police vehicle, while on his way home after leading the fire department honor guard’s presentation of colors at the football game.
His lawsuit comes after a county review board upheld DeHaven’s firing, and denied his request for reinstatement, plus back pay and attorney fees. DeHaven said he’s been treated unfairly by the county, in part because it didn’t give him chance to enter a rehabilitation program instead of being fired. His lawyer could not be reached for comment.
The review board report said that DeHaven has given several differing accounts of the crash, including how much he drank, when he stopped drinking, and how he acted after the crash. DeHaven “was not a credible witness,” the board said.
The report also said that DeHaven told an investigator that the police officer who wrote him a $130 ticket for failing to control his vehicle offered to skip court if DeHaven contested the charge.
“If you do not want to pay and go to court, I wasn’t planning on being there,” the officer said, according to DeHaven.
Tickets are typically dismissed if the officer who wrote the citation doesn’t appear in court.
Police Chief J. Thomas Manger said two months ago that an internal review found that DeHaven had been given “no special treatment” by the responding officers.
The report shows that one of the drivers in the crash said DeHaven smelled of alcohol, was slurring his words, and “almost fell over” directly after the accident. The driver said DeHaven asked him to “not get the police involved.”
A junior police officer responding to the scene also said he smelled alcohol on DeHaven’s breath, but two senior officers did not, The Examiner first reported. Police said DeHaven passed a field sobriety test and was allowed to leave the scene.
About three hours after the accident, tests administered at a medical facility showed that DeHaven had a blood alcohol level of twice the legal limit, the report said. A senior firefighter who was at the facility with DeHaven said he smelled like alcohol and looked as if “he was trying to hold himself together.”
