Onondaga County DA says no further charges to be filed against DA Doorley
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The outside prosecutor brought in to review the Monroe County District Attorney’s traffic stop in Webster, now seen around the world, has declined to authorize the filing of any additional charges against Sandra Doorley.
The News10NBC Investigative Team first brought you body-camera footage of the traffic stop in April and News10NBC Investigative Reporter Jennifer Lewke is still the only reporter who has interviewed Doorley about the traffic stop.
The District Attorney in the Syracuse area was asked to review the footage, the facts of the case, statements given by everyone involved and determine whether any additional criminal charges or tickets are appropriate. He found that police may have been able to ticket her for failure to comply with lights and sirens but the officer used his lawful discretion at the time, not to and now it’s a done deal.
A few weeks after the traffic stop, DA Doorley sat down for an exclusive interview with News10NBC. You can see the full interview here:
Jennifer Lewke: “You were trying to get out of the ticket?”
Sandra Doorley: “At that point I wanted the officer to know that I was not a threat and I’m sorry for that. “I don’t have a good answer for that, I made a mistake.”
At the time, she said she would fully participate in whatever outside reviews were conducted. One of those concluded this week.
In a nine-page letter to the supervising judge, Onondaga County District Attorney Bill Fitzpatrick, says he went through the case with a fine tooth comb to see if Doorley should face any further criminal punishment.
First he looked at fleeing. DA Fitzpatrick says Doorley can’t be charged with it because it wasn’t a pursuit and her vehicle did not increase speed or drive recklessly.
Then he looked at official misconduct, Fitzpatrick says there’s no evidence to support an assertion that DA Doorley committed an “act” relating to her office. She just “tried to talk herself out a ticket, unsuccessfully as it turns out.”
That leaves just a possible charge of obstructing governmental administration. Fitzpatrick found that while it would not have been an abuse of police discretion to have issued an appearance ticket for that charge had it been done at the time of the incident, it would have been a stretch. Now that she’s already pleaded guilty to speeding and paid the ticket, it could be double jeopardy.
While declining to file any further criminal charges, Fitzpatrick ended his letter by saying “she was speeding in her company car. She was rude and demeaning to a cop who goes out everyday to protect us. She, in my own terms, screwed up royally. There’s a lot of healing to do in Monroe County. In my judgment, no one is more aware of that than DA Doorley.”
News10NBC reached out to Sandra Doorley’s office on Tuesday. They say they’re not going to comment at this time. News10NBC also asked for an interview with Bill Fitzpatrick but was told he’s traveling. News10NBC is still trying to line that up.
You can read Fitzpatrick’s full letter, about why no further charges are warranted, here:
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