Principal gets drunk with Superintendent, blows twice legal limit, then gets a pass from police

Today's Indianapolis Star decried the decision that excused a high school principal Scott Syverson from arrest for drunk driving. Syverson was stopped shortly after 1 a.m. Saturday while driving home from a Christmas party hosted by Hamilton Southeastern Schools Superintendent Concetta Raimondi. According to Fishers Police Chief George Kehl , he should have been arrested and taken to jail. A breath test showed him at twice the legal limit.

A Fishers Indiana police officer's decision to take an intoxicated high school principal home instead of arresting him for drunken driving was the wrong one, Fishers Police Chief George Kehl said. "It doesn't make us look very good," said Kehl.

Matter of principal: No arrest

was big mistake

Our position: The public was badly served by an officer's decision not to arrest a high school principal accused of driving drunk.

No one accused of drunken driving should ever get the breaks that Fishers High School Principal Scott Syverson received last weekend.

Syverson, according to Fishers Police, badly failed a roadside sobriety test after he was stopped for driving erratically at 1 a.m. Saturday. The high school educator, a leader of impressionable teens, recorded a blood-alcohol content of 0.18 percent on a portable breath test, more than twice the legal limit.

Syverson should have been immediately arrested. He should have been hauled to jail. He should now be facing a court date on charges that could carry a heavy fine, possible prison time and the loss of his license.

Instead, Fishers Police Officer Kevin Kobli simply gave Syverson a ride home. He was allowed to sleep off in his own bed the evidence of a dangerous crime. Kobli even drove Syverson's wife back to the scene to retrieve the car....