Report: Riverside Police Chief Received ‘Preferential Treatment’ After Arrest

A probe into the handling of ex-Riverside police Chief Russ Leach’s drunken driving crash concluded there was no cover-up by officers, but “deficient decisions” resulted in Leach receiving preferential treatment, city officials said today.

According to Riverside City Manager Brad Hudson, a 2,500-page internal affairs report on the chief’s DUI crash in a city-owned vehicle paralleled the findings of a criminal investigation into the Feb. 8 incident.

Former Riverside County District Attorney Grover Trask headed the inquiry that examined the steps taken by police department personnel from the moment Leach was pulled over by two officers near Arlington Avenue and Rutland Road.

“The hard questions were asked, and all the requested information was provided immediately and freely,” said Trask, who reported his findings directly to Hudson.

“I saw no evidence of a cover-up, only tragically deficient decisions by police management,” he said.

A California Highway Patrol investigation revealed Leach, 62, was driving under the influence around 3 a.m. Feb. 8 when the city-owned Chrysler 300 crashed into an unknown object at Central and Hillside avenues, severely damaging the sedan.

Leach was stopped by a patrol unit three miles away. No field sobriety test was performed, despite his slurred and repetitive speech, as well as a strong odor of alcohol, according to the CHP.

In a 500-page report, the agency questioned how the supervisors notified of the chief’s condition that night — Assistant Chief John De La Rosa and Lt. Leon Phillips — could not have suspected a crime had occurred.

Phillips drove Leach home.

“Management-level failures associated with this incident require policy development and review, as well as disciplinary action,” Hudson said.

He said the department has been ordered to revise policy and training manuals “to formalize steps to be followed under circumstances like those which occurred on February 8th.”