San Francisco Chronicle
SAN FRANCISCO — A San Francisco judge on Friday tossed out the case against a former city firefighter accused of driving drunk when his fire rig struck and badly injured a motorcyclist, ruling that police lacked the legal justification to arrest him.
In one final twist in an already tangled case, Superior Court Judge Kay Tsenin cited delays and bungling by police in ruling that officers had no probable cause to arrest Michael Quinn several hours after his rig struck motorcyclist Jack Frazier.
Frazier, now 52, was thrown into a fire hydrant when the rig hit him late on the night of June 29, 2013, at Fifth and Howard streets. He suffered extensive injuries to his ribs, hip and ankle, and has a lawsuit pending against the city.
Quinn, now 44, was indicted in March 2014 on three drunken-driving-related counts — two felony charges of driving under the influence causing injury and one count of driving a commercial vehicle under the influence causing injury.
Quinn left the scene about 30 minutes after the 11:33 p.m. crash and did not show up at the fire station at Second and Howard streets, where he worked, until two hours after the incident. Sources told The Chronicle that a surveillance camera in bar near the crash had filmed him guzzling water before he returned to the station.
Quinn failed two Breathalyzer tests at the station that were administered by the Fire Department, according to testimony in the case. Police investigators, however, did not do a blood test until after 6 a.m.
By then, Quinn’s blood alcohol level was put at 0.11 percent, above the legal driving limit of 0.08 percent. Fire Department rules prohibit drivers from driving if their blood alcohol level is above 0.04 percent.
Prosecutors told a grand jury that Quinn’s blood alcohol at the time of the crash could have been as high as 0.31 percent, based on estimates of his metabolic rate.
But Tsenin dismissed the two Breathalyzer tests as unreliable because the Fire Department had not properly maintained, calibrated and tested the equipment. Those tests showed Quinn had blood-alcohol readings of 0.18 and 0.16 percent, according to the testimony of fire officials who administered the tests.
Tsenin then ruled that there was not enough evidence for police to arrest Quinn before they gave him the blood-alcohol test, given the delay of more than six hours before officers administered it. That delay meant police had no way of knowing whether Quinn had been drinking before the accident or after, the judge said.
Quinn, who had been out on bail, walked out of court cleared of all charges.
“I’m very happy we finally had the opportunity to present the facts and have the layers of this particular circumstance get peeled back and revealed for what it really was,” said James Bustamante, an attorney for Quinn. “To charge somebody in the circumstances in which they did, in my view, was an injustice.”
Bustamante said prosecutors should have taken the case to a preliminary hearing, not a grand jury. Defense attorneys can present their own witnesses at a preliminary hearing, something that does not happen in grand jury proceedings.
“They did it because they thought they were burying Quinn by the grand jury and over 1,000 pages of testimony which went unchallenged,” Bustamante said. “It is refreshing to be in front of a detached magistrate who is not swayed by politics or a one-way shot — that’s the way this thing is supposed to work.”
Alex Bastian, a spokesman for District Attorney George Gascón, said prosecutors might still pursue the case. “We completely disagree with the judge’s ruling and are exploring all appellate options,” he said.
Quinn resigned from the department soon after the incident. Assistant Chiefs Art Kenney and Dave Franklin were suspended for 10 and eight days, respectively, for their handling of the incident.
Patrick Gunning, one of Frazier’s lawyers, expressed disappointment at the outcome of the criminal case against Quinn.
“The evidence strongly supports that Mr. Quinn was exceedingly intoxicated while driving a fire engine, and he should face the consequences of his actions,” Gunning said.
Mindy Talmadge, spokeswoman for Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White, said the chief had no comment.
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