Officer pleads not guilty to new drunken-driving charges

David Bisard, the suspended Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officer who was charged Monday with misdemeanor drunken-driving charges while on bail awaiting trial for his role in a fatal accident, pleaded not guilty in Marion County to the new charges.

Bisard’s driver’s license was also suspended at the hearing.

Bisard is set to go on trial in October in Allen County on reckless homicide and multiple operating while intoxicated charges. He’s accused of killing motorcyclist Eric Wells and injuring two others, Kurt Weekly and Mary Mills, who were stopped at an Indianapolis intersection when he crashed his police cruiser into them in 2010. Test results from a blood draw after the accident showed Bisard had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.19.

His 2010 case has made its way through the courts, where he challenged the admittance of the blood test results at his trial. The Indiana Court of Appeals ruled the blood evidence could be admitted, reversing the trial court’s decision that the person who drew the blood wasn’t qualified and didn’t follow protocol. The Indiana Supreme Court declined to review the case.

Bisard was arrested over the weekend and charged with two misdemeanor offenses: Class A misdemeanors operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated and operating a motor vehicle with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.15 grams or greater. A blood draw after the accident revealed a BAC of 0.22.

Allen Superior Judge John Surbeck ordered Bisard held in custody pending a May 9 Allen County hearing on the prosecutor’s request for no bond until his October trial in the 2010 case. That case was moved from Marion County to Allen County due to pre-trial publicity.

A pre-trial hearing on the recent charges is set for July 30.