Sober driver arrested for drunk driving after deputy runs stop sign and crashes into her car.
Ms. Weyker’s injuries were too severe for officers to issue a field sobriety test and even get a breath sample. However, Weyker was arrested anyway on five charges including, “drunk driving causing injury.” Tests would later prove Weyker’s innocence finding no trace of alcohol or drugs in her system.
So why was she arrested? Todd Korb, Weyker’s lawyer, told WITI that the arrest was surprising because the authorities had virtually no evidence she was drunk. Korb said, “I can’t say it is necessarily a cover up, but it is suspicious.” Andrew Mishlove, a drunk driving defense expert, told the station that the only cause to arrest Weyker would have been if Deputy Quiles pointed the finger at her. “I think he was trying to protect himself and his department, to be honest,” said Weyker.
In Deputy Quiles’ original report, he claimed that he came to a full stop at the stop sign and never saw Weyker’s headlights (Weyker’s car’s headlights were automatic). However, airport surveillance footage surfaced two days after the crash and refuted Quiles’ first account, showing him rolling through the stop sign. Even though this evidence showed Quiles was at fault, Weyker was still sent threatening letters by the county saying legal action would be taken if she didn’t pay for the damages.
Ten months after the accident, after a Sheriff’s Office internal investigation, Quiles admitted that his first statements were wrong and that he was at fault for the accident. Quiles was suspended for nine days for the accident, but never punished for his false report, despite, WITI notes, “a previous history of discipline for filing reports written by someone else.”
Even though Quiles has admitted fault and the district attorney has decided to not file charges against Weyker, she is still waiting for the county to pay her mounting medical bills, which her attorney says could top one million dollars. Ms. Weyker has filed a complaint against the arresting deputy and may file a civil rights lawsuit against the county.
