-Caveat Lector- <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/"> </A> -Cui Bono?- http://www.herald.com/content/today/news/brodocs/023873.htm Published Saturday, January 22, 2000, in the Miami Herald Questions, contradictions surround FHP crash review BY LISA ARTHUR [EMAIL PROTECTED] A day after the Florida Highway Patrol released an internal review of its investigation into a fatal crash involving an allegedly drunk FBI agent, contradictions piled up as various state and federal agencies began responding to the findings. The family of brothers Maurice Williams, 23, and Craig Chambers, 19, disputed a claim that FHP admitted to them hours after the Nov. 23, 1999, crash that it might have mistakenly blamed Williams for the accident. FBI officials also responded to the report, offering no explanation as to why the license tag was removed from agent David Farrall's car or why he was admitted to the hospital under a false name. Williams and Chambers were killed in the collision on Interstate 95 at Atlantic Boulevard in Pompano Beach. Farrall, who was allegedly driving in the wrong direction on the freeway, was arrested Thursday and charged with driving under the influence of alcohol and manslaughter. FHP has said none of the troopers involved will be disciplined because none of the mistakes in the investigation were ``malicious'' or ``inappropriate.'' Among the contradictions that arose Friday: The FHP report says the day after the crash, FBI agents asked to remove Farrall's child's car seat and a woman's wallet from his wrecked car. They didn't leave with either; the car seat was destroyed by the crash and they couldn't find the wallet. FHP says the agents removed the license tag from the car without asking. FBI spokesman Terry Nelson said Friday that agency officials ``have no knowledge of that.'' ``We'll have to research that,'' Nelson said. BLOOD-ALCOHOL TEST The FHP report says troopers did not test Farrall's blood for alcohol because they didn't have probable cause. Several troopers came in contact with Farrall, and none reported smelling alcohol on his breath. But Mike Catalano, a former chief DUI prosecutor for Miami-Dade state attorney's office who now specializes in DUI defense, said alcohol should have easily been detected on someone who had a blood-alcohol content of .177. Farrall's blood-alcohol content allegedly registered that figure when a sample taken at the hospital after the crash for medical reasons was later tested. ``He's releasing that odor every time he breathes out,'' he said. ``One has to wonder if the odor of the alcohol disappeared when the FBI badge came out.'' FHP Capt. David Brierton said that without probable cause, troopers would have needed Farrall to agree to have his blood drawn on the night of the crash. They never asked him, he said. ``We had no reason to suspect alcohol then,'' he said. Five days after the crash, FHP troopers went to North Broward Medical Center to interview Farrall. They couldn't find him. The hospital said they had no patient by the name of David Farrall. FHP says a hospital security guard told them Farrall had been moved to the ``terminally ill'' ward under the name Thomas Garber. When the FHP troopers located Farrall in the hospital, they say they were barred from seeing him by another FBI agent who told them Farrall didn't want to talk until he had an attorney. Neither the hospital nor the FBI would comment Friday. Five days after the encounter at the hospital, Brierton called Hector Pesquera, the FBI special agent in charge of the Miami office. They discussed the incident and Pesquera said he was unaware FBI agents were at the hospital guarding Farrall. TROOPERS' DOUBTS? FHP said that just two hours after releasing information to the media that blamed Williams for the crash, troopers began to doubt the information. Brierton said at 8:30 p.m. on the day of the crash, trooper Rodney Hylton called the family -- which had insisted that the brothers could not possibly be at fault -- to tell them the Highway Patrol was rethinking its conclusions and would do a thorough investigation. The family denies being contacted that day, said Levi Williams, the family's attorney. ``I asked them about that after the FHP first said it at the Dec. 23 press conference when they admitted their error and the family said `absolutely not,' '' Williams said. ``I asked them about it again today. . . . They said the same thing.'' FHP troopers went to Farrall's home on Dec. 3, 10 days after the crash. The report indicates Farrall ``asked them how it looked.'' ``Agent Farrall mentioned to them that he saw headlights approaching,'' the report says. ``He told Cpl. Hylton `I thought I was going the right way.' '' BUSH WEIGHS IN Also Friday, Gov. Jeb Bush said he was unfamiliar with the case. But after hearing the details, he said: ``With law enforcement, it's important that the perception of trust be as high as possible.'' He promised to familiarize himself with the investigation, and said he would consider ordering an independent review by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement or his inspector general. State Rep. Chris Smith, D-Fort Lauderdale, made the initial call for an FDLE review on Thursday. Farrall is free on $75,000 bond, though he can only leave his house with the court's permission. Broward Circuit Judge Marc Gold on Thursday ordered that Farrall wear an electronic monitor and prohibited him from drinking alcohol. Initially, Farrall's bond was set at $60,000 -- $10,000 for each of the six felony charges against him, which is the standard amount. That amount was increased after the Broward state attorney's office argued that the FBI agent is a flight risk. Herald staff writers Amy Driscoll and Phil Long contributed to this report. 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