Officer Scott Kier made a pit stop at a local construction site one night back in January to use the bathroom. As he exited the porta potty Officer Kier saw a car approaching the site lose control and crash into parked bulldozer.

The officer checked on the driver, later identified as Dale Schultz, and found the driver to be uninjured but did smell of intoxicants. The officer called for backup and then asked the driver to complete field sobriety testing. At the conclusion of sobriety testing the Mr. Schultz was arrested for DUI.

“Before telling the drive to get out of the car I reached down to flip the record button on my body camera, but then realized I was already recording. At the time I assumed I had done so unconsciously as I ran towards the car. Later when the video was reviewed I realized somehow the button got activated as I stepped out of the squad car. There I stood with a camera mounted to my glasses looking at my junk.”

Days after the arrest Schultz’s attorney filed for discovery. Rules of evidence dictate that full recordings need to be turned over. The police department prior to releasing video to an attorney can crop nothing out. The officer begged for the video to be edited, but the District Attorney said no.

The defense says they intend to play the entire video in court. Prosecutors filed a motion to exclude the first few minutes of the tape. Legal precedent is on the side of the defense to be able to show a full recording and not segments at trial. The judge says his hands are tied on this decision.

Officer Kier thinks the defense is only using that threat of the video as a scare tactic for a better plea bargain.

“Juries in this county have lots of little old ladies on them. He shows that video and he will be offending part of the jury. Once you offend the jury no way you win a case.”

In the aftermath of this incident a new policy has been placed into effect. Anytime an officer uses the restroom, they are required to take the camera off and leave it in the squad car.

We will update this story when Mr. Schultz goes to trial in May.