The role of the campus police in responding to the accident is especially unclear. Their call logs indicated that the Tallahassee police called them at 3:38 a.m. seeking help in an “investigation.” Yet, a university spokesman said all they wanted was an after-hours phone number for a football coach to tell him two of his athletes had been in an accident; campus police could not locate a phone number.
The two campus officers — Sgt. Roy Wiley, the shift commander, and Cpl. Greg Washington — decided on their own to drive the crash scene to see if they could help, but they were not needed, the university said.
University policy specifies that police reports “must be completed and submitted regarding actions taken by officers” in response to an “outside request for assistance.” Asked why the two officers had not filed a report, the university said they “were not involved in the investigation, didn’t make an arrest and their assist didn’t result in an arrest, citation or summons.”
The campus police chief, David L. Perry, said in a statement that he reviewed the actions of his officers and found that they behaved appropriately. “This was a routine matter of our agency responding to a simple request from TPD and it was all together proper for our officers to go the scene,” he said in the statement.
As for Mr. Williams, court records showed that two days after the accident, he paid $296 in overdue fines, related to an earlier speeding ticket, in order to get his license reinstated. But the $392 in fines related to the Oct. 5 crash remained unpaid, and overdue, as of this week. As a result, his license was suspended again.
