Cops want Woodson to repay OT

CHARLOTTESVILLE — In the hours after 911 calls came in about shots fired at cars on Interstate 64, dozens of Albemarle County police officers worked on the crime scene, tracked leads and worked with other law-enforcement agencies to try to find the shooters.

The bill came later. Of the 1,124 hours that Albemarle police worked in the first week of the I-64 investigation, 580 of those hours were overtime. Based on the average officer’s pay, that overtime cost the department $19,551.

Authorities attempted to get that money back from one of the two shooters, Slade Allen Woodson, on Tuesday as part of his restitution. However, Circuit Judge Cheryl Higgins did not order Woodson to pay, saying she thought restitution was inapplicable under the law.

Woodson was sentenced to a 15-year active prison sentence for his part in the shootings, which started late March 26, 2008, and continued into the next day. Police have said then-19-year-old Woodson and then-16-year-old Brandon Dawson fired shots at cars driving on I-64 and at nearby homes and utility equipment. Two people were injured.

While police were investigating, a portion of I-64 was closed for hours. Albemarle County public schools were closed for a day as a safety precaution.

Denise Lunsford, the county’s commonwealth’s attorney, made a request Tuesday during closing arguments in court that Woodson pay the police overtime.

“There were so many officers who had be called in, so much overtime, that it just stood out as not being your typical case,” Lunsford said. “The reason I asked was because it was an extraordinary effort.”

Police spokesman Lt. Todd Hopwood said 75 of the department’s 122 sworn officers worked on the I-64 investigation. Some had already completed their regular shift, while others had been in the middle of a shift and were called out to work on the investigation.

Jessica Smith, Woodson’s defense attorney, said in court Tuesday that she believed that police worked overtime on the I-64 case, but questioned if the courts should “pick and choose” when to award police overtime as restitution.

“There are many instances when police have to work overtime when there are more significant crimes committed,” Smith said in court. “It’s a reality of the job.”

Hopwood said the police department has submitted man-hours for restitution in cases before, but it’s up to the commonwealth’s attorney to decide to request it. The police spokesman said the lowballed overtime man-hours figure for the I-64 investigation were submitted with a mindset of “why should the taxpayers have to pay for Slade Woodson shooting up the interstate.”

Lunsford cited case law during Woodson’s sentencing involving restitution to police. In Waiters v. Commonwealth, the state’s appeals court agreed that a Fairfax County judge had the authority to order Torri S. Waiters to pay $1,900 in restitution to the county’s police department. An undercover detective used the money to buy marijuana from Waiters, who later was convicted of three counts of distribution of marijuana.

The Virginia Supreme Court reversed an appeals court decision in 2007 against Lloyd Daren Howell, relieving him of paying more than $1,000 for a security system and eight months of service-monitoring charges. Howell was convicted of statutory burglary and grand larceny in connection with a 2004 break-in at a tax-service business in Roanoke.

The owners installed a security system as a result. In the state Supreme Court opinion, Justice Donald W. Lemons said the security-system installation was related but not caused by the burglary as required by state’s codes on restitution.

Lee Catlin, the county’s spokeswoman, said this week that the county is not “actively pursing” civil action against Woodson to try to recoup the overtime costs. Although the police overtime estimates were available when Dawson was sentenced for the first time, court records show that Dawson was not ordered to pay the overtime either.

After an appeal to the county’s circuit court, Dawson was sentenced last summer to a 180-day intensive juvenile program and restitution to the shooting victims. He was removed from the program late last year and put into the state’s juvenile system. As of late May, Dawson was out on parole.

While Hopwood said that $19,551 doesn’t seem like much when compared with the department’s $12 million plus budget, that money could have gone to pay for ammunition or for part of the uniform allowance.

“One of the county’s core values is stewardship,” Hopwood said. “Why wouldn’t we try to get it back?”

Tasha Kates is a staff writer for the Daily Progress in Charlottesville.