The city of Tempe is fighting a lawsuit by a woman who acknowledges she was intoxicated and lied to a police officer before retrieving a hidden key and crashing her car.
The lawsuit filed on behalf of 21-year-old Korie Hoke of Mesa contends her drunken-driving accident and resulting injuries, said to include brain trauma, could have been prevented if not for police negligence for leaving her unattended.
According to the suit filed in Maricopa County Superior Court in late October, Hoke left a New Year's Eve party on Dec. 31 and called police after an argument with her boyfriend left her fearing for her safety.
Officer Lateef Hampton found Hoke hysterical and sitting in her car, according to a taped March interview that Hampton gave to an attorney for Hoke.
Hampton said he eventually persuaded Hoke to open the car door after she initially refused to do so for him and people whom he found surrounding the car.
Hampton said Hoke acknowledged drinking and that he cited her for underage drinking because she was 20 at the time. He said he did not conduct field sobriety tests because both Hoke and her boyfriend told him that the boyfriend had taken her keys.
Hampton to tried to make sure Hoke didn't have any keys, having her empty her purse and searching parts of the car.
She called her parents to pick her up, and Hampton said he spoke to her parents, who assured him they would be right there.
Hampton said he decided to leave her to wait for her parents because she was an adult.
Hoke's parents arrived minutes later, but she was already gone, having used keys she hid from Hampton.
Hoke's car struck a cinderblock wall and rolled. Hampton said he heard the accident call on the radio and drove to the scene.
Hoke was taken to a hospital where her blood-alcohol content was found to be above the legal limit, according to Jeffrey Gill, one of her attorneys. He wouldn't specify the amount.
Andrew Davidson, an attorney for Tempe, said the city previously denied a pre-lawsuit claim that Gill said sought $1.8 million.
Gill said police should have taken more precautions to keep Hoke safe.
"There are other options to have taken," he said. "Wait for the parents, have her vehicle towed.
