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Pinellas Deputy Punished Over Stop Involving Pasco Peer

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By STEPHEN THOMPSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 2, 2008

Updated: 12/02/2008 04:03 pm

LARGO - A Pinellas County sheriff's sergeant has been suspended for a day after he stopped a car driven by a Pasco County deputy in September and allowed someone to pick up the deputy, even though the deputy smelled of alcohol, according to sheriff's memorandums released today.

Sgt. John Daniels stopped a 2007 Dodge Charger in Tarpon Springs on Sept. 21 after he clocked the vehicle traveling 98 mph on Keystone Road near Ranch Road, sheriff's reports state. Daniels also saw the Charger pass vehicles in a no-passing zone, reports state.

Pasco Deputy Jose Berrios was the Charger's driver. A front-seat passenger was Pasco Deputy Kent Hentschel, reports state. There was someone in the back seat whom Daniels failed to mention in his report. By the time Daniels caught up with the Charger, it had pulled over and Hentschel was standing outside urinating, reports state.

Berrios told Pinellas County Sheriff's Office internal affairs investigators he was speeding to reach a spot where Hentschel could urinate, according to the internal affairs case file.

"The gentleman had to go," Berrios reportedly said. "I'm not going to have him pee in my car."

Both Pasco deputies admitted to Daniels they had been drinking. Berrios called someone for a ride, and once Daniels made sure the driver picking up the pair wasn't intoxicated, he allowed them to go home. No speeding ticket was issued.

Berrios was fired by Pasco County Sheriff Bob White in October. An internal affairs investigation into Hentschel's involvement is not complete.

Daniels' one-day suspension, which he served in November, was meted out because he was found to be inefficient by failing to conduct a standard drunken-driving investigation.

Daniels said he did not issue a speeding ticket because he lost sight of the Charger at one point and, given that, didn't know whether the ticket would hold up in court, according to a copy of his interview with internal affairs investigators.

He also said he thought a drunken driving charge was borderline. There was the smell of alcohol on Berrios' breath, but it was not overwhelming, he said. He denied giving the deputies preferential treatment by virtue of their profession.

"If it was a civilian, I would have done the exact same thing," he said.

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