St. Pete officer suspended for lying about wreck
By
Stephen Thompson |
ST.
PETERSBURG — A city police officer has been suspended for 60 days after he got
into a wreck with a Pasco County sheriff’s undercover vehicle that his wife,
then a Pasco deputy, was supposed to be driving, and then lied about it,
according to a memorandum issued Thursday by Interim Chief of Police Dave
DeKay.
Officer
Kevin Haskins, 37, had dropped off his wife, Jessica Haskins, at a Home Depot
in New Port Richey on Jan. 19, 2013, while he went to look for a parking space
for her vehicle, leased by the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office, the memorandum
says.
Haskins
called his wife and, after she showed up, the two spoke privately, the summary
says. According to Shurtleff, Kevin Haskins asked Shurtleff if she were willing
to say Jessica Haskins was driving, rather than Kevin, as she would get into
trouble otherwise, the summary says.
Later,
Jessica Haskins would claim she had the conversation with Shurtleff, in an
apparent effort to protect her husband’s job.
Shurtleff
waited with Jessica for nearly two hours before Pasco sheriff’s deputies
arrived, and they never spoke to Shurtleff to get her input, the summary says.
Sheriff’s Cpl. John Spicuglia gave Shurtleff a crash report, and she left.
When
Shurtleff took her car for repairs, she discovered the sheriff’s office was
paying only for half of the damage, as Shurtleff was deemed half responsible
for the crash, the case summary says.
Shurtleff
looked into the matter and discovered Jessica Haskins claimed Shurtleff’s car
was moving at the time of the collision. Shurtleff brought the matter up with
the sheriff’s office and told deputies Kevin Haskins was the one driving, not
Jessica Haskins.
The
sheriff’s office began an investigation, during which Jessica Haskins, who was
working as a vice and narcotics detective, resigned on March 28, 2013 instead
of being fired.
In
December, St. Petersburg police learned of Haskins’ deception after his wife
applied for a job with the agency. Investigators did a background check, and
found Kevin Haskins’ potential involvement in the Home Depot wreck.
“Officer
Haskins stated his wife had been dealing with a number of personal issues, and
he could see she was afraid she would get in trouble for allowing him to
operate her work vehicle,” the summary says. “Officer Haskins said he was
trying to protect his wife, and it was then that he suggested the idea to her
that they report the incident as her driving.”
Kevin
Haskins has been with the St. Petersburg police department since 2011.
