Squad car recording: Go 'by the book' with Grayslake police chief
Kenosha County authorities were told to go “by the book” while handling Grayslake Police Chief Matthew McCutcheon on the evening he was accused in an alcohol-related crash, according to a squad car recording obtained by the Daily Herald.
McCutcheon has been on paid administrative leave April 6 and submitted a resignation letter to the village five days later. Mayor Rhett Taylor said after Tuesday's village board meeting that he accepted McCutcheon's resignation “in theory,” but that attorneys are finalizing a separation agreement to make it official.
Retired Lindenhurst top cop Jack McKeever was sworn in as Grayslake's acting chief at the board meeting. Grayslake trustees voted 6-0 in favor of a contract to pay an unspecified hourly rate to a temporary agency specializing in government workers for McKeever's services while the village looks for another permanent police chief.
Kenosha County sheriff's department Sgt. David Markunas quickly learned who was the focus of the deputies' attention when he arrived at the crash scene about 10:10 p.m. March 30, just over the border near Silver Lake, Wis.
“Grayslake chief of police drunk going eastbound,” an unidentified deputy informed Markunas, who was wearing a wireless microphone for the squad car audio and video recording. “Going eastbound turning southbound. Goes off the center, hits these guys at a red light.”
Markunas' microphone picked up McCutcheon asking if there were any injuries in the two-vehicle, head-on crash. Markunas responded that authorities were trying to investigate whether McCutcheon was under the influence of “an intoxicant” and that protocol must be followed.
“Right now, I'm sorry, I refuse any tests,” McCutcheon said on the recording. “Sorry. I refuse any tests. I'm sorry. I'm not trying to be a jerk.”
After McCutcheon was informed paramedics would take him to Aurora Hospital in Kenosha for a blood draw, Markunas told emergency responders three times to handle the case “by the book.”
Kenosha County police said McCutcheon, 46, of Fox Lake, was charged with being armed while intoxicated and operating a vehicle while intoxicated. No one was injured in the collision.
Authorities said McCutcheon was swaying, smelled of alcohol and had bloodshot eyes when they interviewed him after the crash. Kenosha County authorities have yet to release his blood alcohol content.
Reports state McCutcheon's wife, Pamela, was with him on the front passenger's side of a 2012 Honda sport utility vehicle when the collision occurred. Documents show Pamela McCutcheon, 47, told deputies she consumed alcohol, while her husband reported drinking three vodka martinis at a Wisconsin restaurant that evening.
Pamela McCutcheon was heard on the squad car recording asking Markunas about the “maximum severities” her husband faced before he was taken to the hospital in an effort to determine his blood alcohol content.
“So, do you think I need to show up with bail?” she said. “I don't know what to do.”
Markunas said the goal was to get McCutcheon to cooperate with the investigation so the evening would end smoothly.
“I respect his position,” Markunas told Pamela McCutcheon. “However, we can't overlook things. We have our protocol to follow. We have to follow our protocol.”
McCutcheon was named Grayslake's police chief Feb. 7. He joined the department in 1991, worked his way to operations commander and was appointed interim chief after Larry Herzog retired in July 2011.