Turns out that the actions of two Faribault County law officers during the 2014 crash of a Blue Earth police car weren’t questioned, after all.
According to an Albert Lea Police Department detective’s report, jailer Tara Sunken backed into the squad car on April 20 while driving with a suspended license and causing $3,000 in damages.
The detective’s investigation says police officer Chad Bonin called D.J. Bullerman to write up the accident report.
Bullerman reportedly did not issue Sunken a citation after running a computer check of her driver’s license.
“The Faribault County Sheriff’s Office did not undertake an employee investigation regarding Ms. Sunken or Mr. Bullerman based on either individual’s conduct regarding a car crash,” says Kathryn Karjala, Faribault County Attorney.
The county attorney’s comment contradicts what Chief Deputy Scott Adams told Tripleanews.com a couple weeks ago.
Adams implied there was an investigation and that details of findings and whether disciplinary action was taken could be obtained by making a data request to Sheriff Mike Gormley.
On Aug. 15, Gormley contacted Tripleanews.com by e-mail and indicated he, “will work on it.”
Five days later, Karjala e-mailed Tripleanews.com and said that Gormley forwarded the data request to the County Attorney’s Office.
The sheriff has not responded on why he asked Karjala, who has served as county attorney since January 2018, to provide information about an incident that occurred several years before she took office.
Also, county officials have not explained why they believe the employees did not violate the department’s personnel and misconduct policies.