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Sparks fly over police accusation
By ALEX LEARY, Times Staff Writer
PORT RICHEY -- Police Chief Bill Downs said Wednesday that he does not believe one of his officers smoked marijuana and will not look into the claim. A Hudson man had said during an investigation that he smoked the drug with the officer. At a contentious City Council meeting Tuesday night, a Port Richey resident, John King, asked whether the city was going to follow up on the accusation against Officer James Ruland. City officials said they could not comment because of a threatened lawsuit by the Hudson man. Angered, King asked: "Has anybody been given a drug test in this city lately?" Downs offered a quiet retort, asking King, a frequent critic of city government, whether he had had a drug test. The angry, profane exchange that followed was unusual, even by Port Richey meeting standards. "Want to give me (a drug test)? Right here. Take hair, take blood," King replied, stepping from behind the lectern and moving toward the table where city officials sit. Raising his voice, King added: "Get out the scissors or shut the f--- up." Sitting in the audience was Downs' wife, Vivian. "Just get out of here, you creep," she shouted at King. "Piece of dog s---." King walked to the back of the room but didn't sit down, as ordered by Mayor Eloise Taylor. A few minutes later, he left the building. His frustration is likely to linger. The police chief said Wednesday that the case is closed and no action would be taken against Ruland. Downs said he spoke to Ruland about smoking marijuana and was satisfied with his denial. The police chief said that at no time has Ruland displayed suspicious behavior. Ruland, who passed a drug test when he joined the force in September 2001, will not be subjected to another, Downs said. On Aug. 24, the Hudson resident, William Griffin, was accused of theft and arrested. Griffin was not charged. Griffin filed a complaint against the sheriff's deputy who arrested him at his home and against Ruland, who accompanied the deputy and whose girlfriend's purse was said to have been stolen. Griffin alleged the officers violated his constitutional rights. In a transcribed Sheriff's Office interview with Griffin conducted Aug. 28 as part of the investigation into the complaint, Griffin alleged he smoked marijuana with Ruland and others. The other people he named could not be reached by the Pasco Times. During the Sheriff's Office interview, Griffin told a detective that "we all" smoked marijuana "about eight months ago." The detective sought clarification. "Okay, okay, you said Officer Ruland also?" Griffin's reply: "Oh, yes . . . absolutely." The 26-year-old officer has been in the news before. He stopped mayoral candidate Bob Leggiere on suspicion of drunken driving about a month before the April 8 election. Ruland was counseled by superiors after failing to appear at an administrative hearing at which Leggiere could have lost his driver's license. Internal investigations found numerous problems with the officers' actions on Aug. 24, including entering Griffin's home without permission, denying him an attorney and making an arrest without a warrant. When Ruland took Griffin to the Sheriff's Office in New Port Richey, Ruland's girlfriend was in the front seat, a violation of department policy. After the internal investigation, the deputy, Ronald Heinemann, was suspended seven days without pay. Ruland was docked five days of accrued compensatory time. His supervisor, Ronald "Gene" Blythe, lost 7-1/2 days of compensatory time.
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