A 57-year-old Omaha driver has been charged with aggravated DUI roughly four months after a July crash that totaled a family's Jeep and left a teenager with minor injuries. The charge came even though the original police report indicated alcohol was not suspected. The crash happened at 168th and Sprague streets on July 10.
According to WOWT, Dan Speicher is accused of crashing into a Jeep driven by the 17-year-old daughter of Melissa Wood. The city prosecutor charged Speicher with aggravated DUI, alleging his blood alcohol tested above 0.15, which the station described as almost twice the legal limit. Speicher is also charged with having no proof of insurance.
Mother Says Signs Of Drinking Were Visible
Wood told the station the crash was not her daughter's fault. She photographed the vehicle driven by the person cited for causing the crash, and said she could see open containers and a beer can on the floor. The report says she sent a photo of the inside of Speicher's vehicle to the city prosecutor.
The prosecutor subpoenaed a blood draw from Speicher, and that sample was tested for blood alcohol. Wood said she received an answer from the prosecutor about her belief that Speicher had been drinking about four months after the crash. She told the station her aim was justice being served rather than proving herself right.
Questions About What Officers Did At The Scene
The alcohol-suspected box on the police report shows no, per the same account. Wood alleged that three officers at the scene did not see probable cause to conduct field sobriety tests, and that the at-fault driver was not alcohol-tested at the scene. Speicher was taken to a hospital after being injured, according to the report.
Wood filed a complaint against the investigating officers. Omaha police told the station they could not comment, but Wood said Internal Affairs told her the officers faced disciplinary action. That claim has not been independently verified.
Under the Omaha Police Department's citizen complaint process, the Internal Affairs Commander assigns a complaint to an investigator for follow-up. When discipline may be warranted, the department says an investigation could take 15 to 100 calendar days. The city also says its Citizen Review Board lets the public request a review of a complaint filed against an officer.
Not The First Omaha Crash With Alcohol Questions
Omaha has seen a similar situation before. The Omaha World-Herald reported that an Omaha police officer was charged with four misdemeanors in connection with a summer crash, where the sergeant called to the scene did not investigate suspected alcohol use.
Blood evidence has also grown more procedurally complicated for prosecutors. KETV reported on a U.S. Supreme Court ruling requiring police to get a warrant before drawing blood from a suspected drunk driver, which Omaha City Prosecutor Matt Kuhse said affected about 20 DUI cases. Nebraska prosecutors responded with a fill-in-the-blank draft warrant to speed up the process.
When WOWT asked Speicher whether he wanted to say anything about the crash, he replied, “No sir, thank you.” Court dates and any response to the charges have not been made public. Wood, for her part, told the station that uninsured motorist insurance is not the best, as the family deals with the loss of its Jeep.
