Sean Rossman

Democrat staff writer

An internal Tallahassee Police investigation found a sergeant committed conduct unbecoming an officer during a May traffic stop where he was suspected of driving under the influence of alcohol by the Florida Highway Patrol trooper who pulled him over.

Sgt. David McCranie, a field training sergeant, former public information officer, and 17-year TPD veteran, was found to have committed conduct unbecoming of an officer for bringing discredit to the department and violating the ethics code for honesty during the downtown Tallahassee traffic stop.

McCranie was cleared of allegations he abused his position and that he'd failed to uphold work standards during contact with members of another agency.

The incident was captured on Florida Highway Patrol dashboard-camera video, which the Tallahassee Democrat obtained in early June. The troopers said McCranie yelled out his window at troopers and blew through two red lights.

FHP issued McCranie a citation for running the lights the night of Friday, May 23. But Trooper Christopher Powers, who made the traffic stop, did not arrest McCranie on a charge of DUI, although troopers suspected McCranie had been drinking.

The 69-page internal investigation report includes interviews with Powers, FHP Sgt. Trerrance Chukes, who was called to the scene due to the "high profile" nature of McCranie's stop, and Lt. Michael Abbey, a TPD watch commander whom McCranie called to the scene that night.

Tallahassee Police Chief Michael DeLeo opened the internal affairs investigation June 4, the same day the Tallahassee Democrat reported on the incident and published the dashboard-camera footage. DeLeo, who is listed as the complainant, has not yet handed out a punishment to McCranie. TPD spokesman Officer David Northway said TPD will provide that information once a decision is made.

The TPD report reveals more details about what went on that night, along with the impressions of officers on the scene. It includes transcripts of interviews internal affairs investigators conducted with those involved.

At 9:42 p.m. McCranie shouted at Powers, who was conducting a traffic stop, from his black pickup truck while heading east on West Madison Street.

McCranie said he "whooped and hollered" while passing Powers because he was excited about Florida State softball team's big win over Michigan.

"Where I was, everybody was whooping and hollering. The streets were busy. And I left and as I passed the trooper I whooped and hollered," McCranie told Internal Affairs investigators. McCranie added that he couldn't remember what he said but that it wasn't meant to be derogatory or inflammatory.

That's what McCranie told TPD investigators in the incident's aftermath, but that's not what he told officers at the scene in May.

In an internal TPD summary of the incident Lt. Michael Abbey sent to his captain, Sgt. Trukes said McCranie yelled "something to the effect of 'Ohhhh there is a big trooper on a traffic stop."

Powers pulled a U-turn and followed him as he headed east through downtown. McCranie said he saw McCranie run a red light at St. Augustine and Duval streets, and another at Madison and Bronough streets,After Powers pulled him over at Duval and Pensacola streets, McCranie immediately exited his black GMC truck and started walking towards Powers with his right hand in his back pocket.

McCranie, who had seen the video of the stop, insisted more than once that he did not run any red lights. He told investigators he believed he did nothing wrong and was being pulled over for yelling at Powers earlier.

"I've worked with troopers for years. When I was in traffic we ran stuff on the interstate," McCranie said. "I didn't know if it was somebody that I was gonna know or not. I'm very comfortable with them."

He got out of the car and approached Powers to apologize while reaching for his wallet in his back pocket.

His actions were "not what you see from law enforcement," Powers told investigators. "I took it as aggression."

Powers pointed his gun at him and screamed: "What are you doing? Get your hands out of your pocket!"

"Whoa," McCranie said. "I'm a cop. I'm a cop. I'm a cop, man. I'm sorry."

"I don't care," Powers replied. "Turn around. You don't jump out on me like that. You should know better. Turn around."

"As soon as he challenged me I knew exactly right then and there I had messed up and I immediately put my hands up," McCranie told investigators. "The only reason I even identified myself as a police officer was I thought he was gonna shoot me."

Troopers can be heard on the video saying they could smell alcohol on McCranie's breath and discussing whether he was legally intoxicated. Powers called in Sgt. Chukes due to the "high profile" nature of McCranie's stop.

McCranie initially declined to take field sobriety tests, but agreed nearly an hour later when he was told he would be arrested. All four FHP troopers on scene agreed there was not enough evidence to arrest McCranie on a DUI charge. Some of the troopers on scene said McCranie was being disrespectful for not submitting to a field sobriety exercise initially, even though McCranie was under no obligation to do so.

"I did not see a reason for me to stand on the side of the road for the potential that others would see me, for embarrassment," he said.

McCranie, they found, lied to Chukes and Abbey by misleading them about whether he initially yelled at Powers.

"Sergeant McCranie was untruthful with Sgt. Chukes and Lt. Abbey in explaining his initial reaction with Trooper Powers and whether he screamed or made any comments to Trooper Powers," the report said.

After the field sobriety test, Chukes allowed McCranie to call Lt. Michael Abbey, the watch commander on duty at the time. McCranie told Abbey, who was on duty and working out in the field, to come to his traffic stop.

"He said that he had been stopped by FHP. That he wasn't drunk," Abbey said. "But they were making him do (field sobriety exercises) and he needed me to respond right away."

McCranie reportedly was "very agitated and excited" when he talked to Abbey at the scene and shushed the watch commander several times. Abbey observed the rest of the stop from down the street.

Abbey said McCranie was not very receptive of the ticket he was eventually given.

"The trooper began to explain the ticket and hand him the ticket and at some point, Sgt. McCranie became so agitated that he turned and walked away from the trooper" while the trooper was in midsentence, Abbey said.

"I directed Sgt. McCranie to return to Trooper Powers and conclude that contact in a professional manner," he said.

Abbey said McCranie acted unprofessional during the stop.

Trooper Powers suggested that McCranie and his passenger leave without McCranie's truck. The two got a hotel room downtown

Afterwards, Abbey apologized to the FHP troopers on behalf of the department. The troopers said they did not believe McCranie was impaired.

"They emphatically said that ... they believed that if he was DUI or impaired, that they would have locked him up," Abbey told investigators.

McCranie called Abbey the next day and said "that it was his hope that this could be handled on the first floor," Abbey said. McCranie also called him from Alaska, where he was on vacation, after the first article in the Tallahassee Democrat came out in early June.

Abbey created a word document that detailed the entire incident in order to send to his captain and McCranie's captain in order to keep them apprised of the situation. Abbey suggested he did so to avoid public records law by printing out the document.

"I created a word document that I could print so I didn't have to send it through email and risk the FS 119 implications," Abbey said. Florida Statute 119 is the state's public-records law.

McCranie said he never used his position to get special treatment during the stop.

"I've never asked for favoritism and wouldn't," he said. "You take responsibility for your action."

"If he was an everyday citizen," Abbey said. "He yelled at the trooper, ran two red lights, stopped in the middle of a lane of traffic, got out of the car and walked back towards a law enforcement officer reaching for his back pocket, it would be ... at bare minimum poor judgement and definitely unprofessional."

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