LAKE COUNTY, Fla — A Lake County deputy resigned while under investigation for suspicion of driving under the influence in his unmarked department-issued vehicle. Now there are questions about how the Leesburg officer who pulled him over handled the traffic stop.
The Leesburg Police Department isn’t commenting, but police video shows the officer questioning the deputy more than once about how he should handle the stop. At one point, he even asks if he’ll get in trouble if he allows the deputy to call for a ride home.
The Leesburg police officer rolled up on former deputy Preston Leonard on July 11 and pulled him over for driving 17 mph over the posted speed limit. Leonard held out his Lake County Sheriff’s Office business card as the Leesburg officer walked toward his unmarked department-issued pickup truck, assigned to detectives in a special investigation unit.
The officer asked the then-deputy to throw his car in park, and the Leonard replied, “it’s in park,” to which the officer alerted him that the car is actually moving.
The officer knew the vehicle was moving because of what he said happened just before he got out of his patrol car: “You reversed and almost hit my vehicle. You been drinking tonight?”
Leonard responded “no” twice after the officer asked the deputy if he wants to be honest.
The Leesburg officer was unsure of what to do. He called a supervisor, who asked if the deputy was drunk.
“That’s what I’m thinking, but I don’t smell anything, but my nose is clogged up,” he said during a phone call with the supervisor, who can be heard laughing on the other end of the phone.
That supervisor never showed up at the scene, but the officer raised concerns about what he can see and hear over the phone.
“He has slurred speech and his eyes are a little watery,” the officer can be heard saying on the body camera video.
A second officer arrived. The initial officer returned to the deputy’s pickup truck and asked where he was headed, but Leonard didn’t seem to give clear directions on how he planned to get home.
The officer questioned why he taking a route that seemed to take him out of the way of getting home.
Leonard refused to do a field sobriety test. Instead, he told the officer he can have someone pick him up in 30 minutes, apparently having already called for a ride home before the officer offered the option.
Law enforcement expert Randy Nelson, who trains agencies on accountability and transparency, saw the video and said, “Once you refuse a field sobriety tests, a normal citizen would have been arrested.”
The Lake County Sheriff’s office opened an internal investigation and immediately uncovered the detective had been out drinking at Clermont National with other deputies in that department-issued truck.
The investigator stated Leonard’s irrational decision was deficient and a dangerous judgement, which consequently caught the attention of Leesburg police, who stopped him for suspicion of DUI.
Leesburg did not investigate to determine if this officer who made the stop violated policy but asked the supervisor over the phone, “Would I get in trouble if I have somebody pick him up?” The other officer stated, “No, you won’t be in trouble as long as you don’t have enough to make an arrest.”
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