ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, December 3, 1996 TAG: 9612050007
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: RADFORD
SOURCE: LISA K. GARCIA STAFF WRITER
MEMO: ***CORRECTION***
Published correction ran on December 4, 1996.
Jonny Butler is deputy chief of the Radford Police Department. His
title was incorrect in a story in Tuesday's Current.
A special prosecutor will pursue the case involving an intoxication charge that cost a Radford firefighter his job last week, according to the city commonwealth's attorney.
Randal Duncan said Monday he will not prosecute the driving under the influence case because he has known William E. "Tommy" Long for many years. The special prosecutor should be named within days.
The 46-year-old Long - who has more than two decades of service with the Fire Department - refused to comment about the charge last week. His attorney, Dick Davis, said he believes Long is not guilty.
Radford Chief Deputy Jonny Butler said the state police were called to investigate the accident because a city police car was involved.
"That's been our policy for at least 10 years," Butler said.
State Trooper D.I. Compton's investigation led to the DUI charge after Long hit a parked police car Nov. 21 with one of the city's pumper trucks while heading to an accident call. The criminal complaint stated that Long appeared to be under the influence of drugs. Long was charged under the state law that covers driving while intoxicated by either drugs or alcohol.
Long took a blood test, but the results will not be back for several weeks, Compton said. Long admitted to police he had taken a prescription drug earlier in the day to ward off a migraine. His attorney said city officials knew Long had been taking prescription drugs for several years while under a doctor's care.
Compton also said that Fire Chief Martin Roberts, one of the two witnesses, told him he could tell Long was "snockered" - a slang term meaning drunk - the minute he heard him on the radio.
Roberts denied Monday that he ever said Long was snockered.
"The word's not even in my vocabulary," he said. "I absolutely did not make that statement."
Roberts said he thinks he knows who made the statement and it was someone else at the accident scene. He did admit that Long did not appear OK to him when he saw him at the accident.
"I told [the trooper] I wanted him to investigate it like any other accident," Roberts said.
Compton said the accident that led to Long's dismissal was minor. No one was injured and the damage to the police car amounted to a dent on the rear driver's side that will cost about $200 to fix. Compton said Long rounded a corner and hit the police car with the rear portion of the pumper truck.
Roberts said the damage to the fire truck will cost about $1,000 to repair. The truck's middle compartment door was scraped and a rub rail was pulled off in the wreck.
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