Update on a story we first
brought you a few weeks ago.
A Northern Virginia lawmaker tells us
Fairfax County Police failed to quote
go the extra mile when it investigated
a distracted driving accident that
killed an 86 year old grandfather.
But tonight, ohh, yeah,
our investigation is leading to change.
Yeah, that lawmaker is considering
new legislation to preserve the
type of evidence that Fairfax County
investigators didn't collect in this case,
here's chief investigative reporter
Eric Flack with our special report,
distracted driving outrage.
When 86 year old William Glass
died from injuries suffered in
a distracted driving accident,
the family was shocked at Fairfax
Counties Justice and the driver
walked out of court with this $125
fine $192.00 with court fees.
Is that justice for William Glass?
No, not at all.
That $125 fine and no jail time
for the driver, Leonel Alvarado,
came after the Commonwealth Attorney's
Office downgraded the officers initial
classification of a reckless driving,
which is punishable by a
maximum of 12 months in jail,
to holding a phone while operating a vehicle,
which only carries a fine.
Do you feel betrayed by the court system?
Absolutely they do.
But the glass family believes.
It wasn't just the courts that betrayed
them because Fairfax County police
failed to do a digital forensic
exam of the driver's cell phone.
Anytime there's a death case
in Fairfax County, they usually
bring in special detectives.
State Senator Scott Surovell
called that a mistake.
If they called the crash Reconstruction unit.
And I'm, you know, I'm not clear why,
they wouldn't have gone the extra mile to
get that phone and and take it apart to
figure out exactly what they were dealing
with. Servel, who represents
parts of Fairfax County,
has worked to strengthen Virginia's
distracted driving laws, he argues.
The forensic exam of the driver's
cell phone can prove if someone is
texting at the time of an accident,
a determining factor in a case
he brought as a civil attorney.
How important was that forensic
exam on the phone in your case?
In that case was absolutely critical
that they if they hadn't done the
forensic examination on the phone,
nobody would really been able to explain what
happened. Fairfax County Police
Chief Kevin Davis declined repeated
interview requests for this
report through a spokesperson,
that spokesperson only
agreeing to address W USA.
Means questions via e-mail.
Fairfax County police has answers to
three separate questions about why
investigators never did that digital
forensic exam on the driver's cell phone.
We're all virtually the same,
the department repeating over and over again,
only that a passenger in the truck
that slammed into William Glasses
minivan saw that cell phone in the
driver's hand at the time of the crash.
Were you in the truck?
This is police body Cam video of
investigators talking to that passenger.
On Google, the spokesperson also
telling us since the driver
ultimately told police he was using
the phone's GPS for directions
at the time of impact, investigators
had enough for the misdemeanor
distracted driving charge.
But the Fairfax County Commonwealth
Attorney's Office told us that passenger
witnessed police were relying so
heavily on later disappeared and as a
result there was no way for the Fairfax
County Commonwealth Attorney's Office
to meet the legal standard in Virginia
for additional criminal charges.
There's no justice, no nothing.
What's gonna stop them from doing it again?
Surovell said a digital forensic exam on
the phone could have revealed the driver
was doing more than just checking GPS,
like texting at the time of impact,
potentially giving prosecutors the
evidence they needed to take that more
serious reckless driving charge to court.
Survival is now considering legislation
that would safeguard digital forensic
evidence in distracted driving cases,
information William Glasses
family believes could have led to more.
Then a $125 fine for the driver
who killed their loved ones.
Eric Flack, W USA 9.
We reached out to the driver
through his family and his
attorney for comment, but we
have not heard back.