Covill sorry for butting in
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By JEFFREY HAGE jeff.hage@lee.net
Wednesday, December 6, 2006 10:32 AM CST
A Chippewa Falls alderman apologized Tuesday for interjecting himself into the middle of an early morning traffic stop.
Two Chippewa Falls police officers say Alderman Jack Covill appeared intoxicated when he approached them at High and Willow streets as they were making an arrest shortly before 2:30 a.m. Tuesday.
Lt. Mark Hanson had pulled over a vehicle for operating with a burned out headlight, and found that a 21-year-old passenger was wanted on a probation hold. Officer Matt Kelm arrived on scene to provide back-up.
The officers say that while they were making the arrest, Covill appeared on scene and demanded to know why it took two officers to make the traffic stop. He identified himself as a city official and told the officers he had a right to know.
The officers ordered Covill to vacate the street. He responded by walking between the squad car and the suspect’s vehicle, said the police report, and again asked why two officers were at the traffic stop. Covill was again asked to step back, and the second time complied with the request, officers said.
But Covill didn’t leave the scene, the officers said. He stayed in the area until the traffic stop was completed and then approached Kelm and tried to engage him in a conversation about the city budget. Before leaving, Covill apologized profusely for interfering with the officers, the officers said.
Covill was in attendance at the Monday meeting of the city’s Finance Committee, which was making final adjustments to the 2007 city budget. The budget was later approved by the city council at its Tuesday night meeting.
On Monday night, after the finance committee meeting ended around 9 p.m., Covill says he went to a downtown bar.
“To be honest with you, I had a few,” Covill admitted when contacted by the Herald late Tuesday morning.
Covill said because he didn’t want to drive after drinking, he left his car downtown and began walking home to his residence at 601 N. Grove St. It was on that walk home that Covill met up with the officers around 2:30 a.m.
“I made some bad judgments,” Covill acknowledged.
Covill says intoxication was not the reason he approached the officers. He did so, he said, because as an alderman on the committee that oversees police finances, he had questions about police coverage.
“I was curious because we are in the process of making budget cuts and decided to observe. I did learn while observing why they had two officers on (the call) and four on each shift,” said Covill, who has suggested during the budget process that there are too many officers on duty during each of the three eight-hour police shifts.
“At times I’m curious, but I picked the wrong time to be curious,” Covill said.
Covill acknowledges that when told to back off by the officers he did so and watched the arrest from a distance.
“I’ve done stupid things before and I’ll do them again, but I’ll never do that again,” Covill said.
Police Chief Wayne Nehring was visibly upset by Covill’s actions Tuesday morning. Nehring said if Covill had not listened to the officers’ instructions, they may have found it necessary to place him under arrest.
As it turned out, said Nehring, Covill’s “actions did not quite rise to the level of obstructing an officer.”
But it’s clear to Nehring that Covill had no business putting himself in the middle of police business, a move that jeopardized not only Covill’s safety, but the safety of the police officers.
Mayor Dan Hedrington said Tuesday night that he was disappointed in Covill’s actions because they placed the city in a bad light.
“It’s an unfortunate situation for which Alderman Covill is embarrassed and very sorry,” Hedrington said.
Hedrington says the police department handled the situation appropriately.
Nehring says he is 100 percent sure that Covill’s involvement in budget discussions that resulted in the city not restoring a vacant police captain’s job played no part in the officers’ decisions to report the matter.
“I’m confident that the police chief and members of his department did act appropriately — and so is Alderman Covill,” Hedrington said.
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