06/29/2006

Trooper had been convicted of DUI

BY IAN C. STOREY

istorey@record-eagle.com

and SHERI MCWHIRTER

sherimcwhirter@hotmail.com

TRAVERSE CITY — State police trooper David Meder has a history of drunken driving that predates a May incident in which he crashed his vehicle and fled on foot after drinking at a local bar.

Meder, 46, of Traverse City, was charged and convicted of drunken driving after a 1994 vehicle crash in Otsego County's Hayes Township.

Police and court documents obtained by the Record-Eagle show Meder lost control and rolled his truck in October 1994 as he drove from a state police meeting at Boyne Highlands.

Meder pleaded guilty to drunken driving and was sentenced to a year of probation and fines for the 1994 incident, court records show.

He was sentenced June 19 to serve probation and pay more than $6,000 in restitution after pleading guilty to a pair of misdemeanors for failing to report a May 18 crash on Peninsula Drive. Investigators said Meder drank alcohol at Brady's Bar in Traverse City shortly before the May crash.

He fled the crash scene on foot and the next morning told his insurance agent his vehicle had been stolen and wrecked.

"I don't have any comment," Meder said Wednesday when reached at his home.

Word of Meder's previous drunk driving conviction surprised both Traverse City post commander Lt. William Elliott and Grand Traverse County Prosecutor Alan Schneider.

"I don't know if that is even true; I have no firsthand knowledge of his past," said Elliott Wednesday. "We do not maintain personnel files at our particular posts."

Meder — in 1994 a trooper stationed at the Battle Creek post — was found by another motorist, strapped in his seat belt and bleeding from the head, and was transported to the Gaylord post, where troopers there escorted him to the hospital.

Meder's blood-alcohol level was 0.19, more than twice the state's current legal limit of 0.08.

Troopers reported in 1994 that Meder, with bloodshot eyes and slurred speech, said he was heading home from the meeting when he swerved to avoid a deer and lost control of his truck.

Schneider said Meder was not charged with drunken driving for the May 18 crash because there wasn't enough evidence, although witnesses told police Meder had been drinking at Brady's. A bartender told investigators Meder appeared intoxicated.

Meder struck a utility pole in Peninsula Township shortly before 11 p.m. and rolled his Chevrolet Suburban. He abandoned the vehicle before Grand Traverse County sheriff's deputies arrived.

Schneider said the previous drunken driving conviction would not have made a difference in the May case.

"It is not in the record that we've got," he said. "I still had the same evidence so I couldn't charge him since the prior conviction wouldn't be evidence. He wasn't charged (with drunken driving) because it wasn't a provable case."

Meder also wasn't charged with falsely reporting a vehicle theft.

Meder's insurance agent told sheriff's investigators that on May 22 Meder retracted the stolen vehicle story, telling her he was "responsible" for the accident, but "this is all I can say."

Capt. Tim Rod, commander of the state police 7th District headquarters, told the Record-Eagle this month that an internal investigation would start immediately after Meder was sentenced.

Meder remains on active duty, including road patrol.

Elliott said he had no idea how the previous conviction would effect Meder's employment with the MSP.

"The current internal investigation I am working on will go to Lansing to human resources," he said. "They may consider past record, but I am not aware of what that is."

See related stories:

• State trooper sentenced - June 20, 2006
• Trooper may have tried to cover his tracks - June 16, 2006
• Trooper still on the job after crash - June 15, 2006