Police Chief Who Was Investigated For Hit-And-Run Resigns

Riverside Police Chief Russ Leach resigned on Thursday three days after he crashed a city-owned car under curious circumstances.

According to The Los Angeles Times, Riverside City Manager Bradley Hudson said Leach’s retirement was for “medical reasons” and was effective immediately. Hudson also announced a “sweeping Internal Affairs investigation” into the Police Department’s actions after the crash.

Leach was being investigated after a hit-and-run crash in his city-issued car at 3 a.m. on Monday morning.

According to the Press-Enterprise, CHP Inland Division Chief Jeff Talbott said that the CHP was probing separate allegations that Leach was driving while impaired and that responding Riverside police officers omitted that suspicion from their initial report.

“At this point, the physical evidence is gone,” Talbott told the newspaper. “If there’s any impairment, our investigation will be based solely on the interviews of witnesses, which will be Riverside police.

From the L.A. Times: “The report describes a confused Leach, who was apparently unaware that he had just plowed into a fire hydrant, hit a light pole and then driven on the rims of his black Chrysler 300 for three more miles before the car came to rest.”

You can read more on this story, by visiting the Los Angeles Times Web site.

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