Indiana Cop Involved in Fatal Crash Arrested Again

An Indianapolis police officer charged with causing a fatal 2010 crash while driving drunk was arrested again Saturday, records show.

Marion County Jail records show David Bisard was booked on a misdemeanor charge of drunken driving Saturday afternoon, The Indianapolis Star reports.

Jail spokesman Juilio Fernandez told The Associated Press that Bisard was taken to the jail processing center by police from the Indianapolis enclave of Lawrence. Lawrence police didn’t return phone calls and emails seeking further information.

Bisard’s attorney, John Kautzman, had no immediate comment.

Bisard was already charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated, reckless homicide and criminal recklessness in the 2010 crash that killed 30-year-old Eric Wells and injured two others. If convicted, Bisard could face 20 or more years in prison. His case was moved to Fort Wayne in February due to extensive media coverage in central Indiana. His trial is set for October.

The case drew intense local media coverage as legal snarls caused it to drag on for months and police officers’ handling of the crash scene and evidence stirred public distrust and led to disciplinary action against several high-ranking officers, including the demotion of the police chief.

The case has undergone a series of delays over admission of blood tests that showed Bisard had a blood-alcohol level more than twice the legal limit. The Indiana Supreme Court in ruled in December that the blood tests could be admitted into evidence.

Hawkins ruled that the blood drawn from Bisard after the crash was inadmissible because it was drawn by a medical assistant, a profession not included among those listed in Indiana law that are allowed to do so in drunken driving cases. But the state Court of Appeals overturned his decision, saying legislators clearly hadn’t intended for such key evidence to be thrown out on a technicality.

Hawkins did allow prosecutors to test a second blood sample despite objections by Kautzman that it was mishandled by police technicians. The results of those tests haven’t been released.

Former Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi stunned the victims and public when he dropped drunken driving charges against Bisard just days after they were filed, which he did because of the discrepancy. After taking office in 2011, Prosecutor Terry Curry refiled the charges.