TITUSVILLE, Fla. – Newly released body camera footage and investigative documents are shedding light on the moments after former Titusville Police Chief John Lau crashed his patrol vehicle late Tuesday night along Barna Avenue.
The footage shows Lau being treated on a stretcher moments after the rollover crash while officers gathered items from inside the vehicle and discussed what they believed could be signs of alcohol involvement.
According to a Titusville Police Department report, officers noted they “could hear a slight slur in Chief Lau’s speech” and observed that he had bloodshot eyes following the crash.
The report also states officers discovered a bottle of Ketel One vodka inside the patrol vehicle.
Police said they documented and photographed the bottle because they did not see Florida Highway Patrol troopers photograph the alcoholic beverage containers at the scene.
“To ensure transparency and proper record keeping, Major Little instructed me to take photographs of the vodka located inside the vehicle,” one officer wrote in the report.
Additional body camera footage shows officers attempting to determine the amount of liquid remaining inside the bottle before pouring it out.
“Let me smell it, if they say how do you know what it was,” one officer said in the video. “Yeah, that is alcohol.”
Investigators say officers later went to Parrish Medical Center and asked Lau to submit to an alcohol test, but he refused.
As a result, Lau was issued a termination letter from the city for violating department policy.
Florida Highway Patrol is handling the crash investigation. News 6 has asked FHP why no charges have been filed against Lau and whether troopers failed to photograph the vodka bottle found inside the vehicle.
Officials have not yet responded to those questions.