Nighbert test shows cocaine, Oxycodone

Toxicology test results obtained by the News Journal show that a Williamsburg police officer, who was involved in a serious motor vehicle crash in April, had both cocaine and Oxycodone in his bloodstream nearly three hours after the accident.
A toxicology analysis report of Officer Brad Nighbert’s blood, which was taken at 1:30 a.m. on April 13 at the University of Kentucky Medical Center, showed that he had 0.001 milligrams of cocaine in his system, and 0.007 milligrams of Oxycodone.
On April 12, Nighbert was on duty and traveling southbound on US25W near Cumberland Regional Mall when he struck a minivan driven by Connie Jackson of Ky. 92E about 10:33 p.m.
Nighbert was pinned inside the vehicle as a result of the collision. Members of the Williamsburg Fire Department had to extricate Nighbert from his cruiser.
Nighbert was airlifted from the scene, and flown to the University of Kentucky Medical Center where he underwent a four-hour surgery to fix his leg.
Nighbert is still employed by the Williamsburg Police Department, but is currently off on medical leave drawing workman’s compensation from injuries he suffered during the accident.
Williamsburg city officials said Monday evening that they are currently conducting an internal investigation into the matter, but declined to go into many of the specific details in the case.
“We knew that it was serious from day one,” said Mayor Roddy Harrison. “I know a lot of people may think that we haven’t taken it very seriously, but we have taken it quite seriously. It is a touchy situation, and one that we just can’t comment too much on at this time. I apologize.”
The Williamsburg City Council met in executive session for 31 minutes to discuss police department personnel issues during its monthly meeting Monday, but took no action, Harrison said.
Williamsburg Police Chief Denny Shelley said the purpose of the meeting with the council was to inform them of the “steps we have started on the internal investigation. Of course, it has been underway for a while now.
“There are different steps of it, so we would like to keep the council informed of all steps of the internal investigation as we can.”
Shelley said that he hopes to wrap up his internal investigation within the next two to four weeks.
He added this is a rough time frame, and that the investigation could take a longer or shorter period of time.

Drug policy
In February, the city council approved the first reading of a zero tolerance policy for drug and alcohol use in the workplace.
The ordinance called for any city employees caught using or being under the influence of alcohol or drugs while on duty to be terminated on their first offense. The ordinance also allows for random drug testing of employees and drug testing if someone is suspected of being under the influence, or is involved in an accident, or an incident where someone is injured.
“Our policy states that as soon as a wreck like this happens, they will be tested. It is a one strike policy,” Harrison said.
Shelley said that the policy includes officers being at work under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
“One strike you’re out, no second chance. If you wreck a cruiser after drinking, you are not going to get suspended and moved to another shift. You’re gone,” he added.
When asked if this means Nighbert will be dismissed if it substantiated that he had cocaine and Oxycodone in his system at the time of the wreck, Harrison declined to address the matter directly.
“Again, I apologize and am not making light of this at all,” Harrison said. “It is that serious to us that we just can’t comment on that, but to say we are doing everything, and making sure that we do everything the correct way.
“We don’t want to make the city libel for anything. We want to make sure we do it right.”
City officials also declined to comment on whether the report given to the media about Oxycodone and cocaine being found in Nighbert’s blood system after the wreck was consistent with what they have uncovered so far in their investigation.
“Again, I apologize, but we had better not go there yet,” Harrison said.

Procedures
City officials declined to comment specifically on what might happen if the city brings administrative action against Nighbert.
There are procedures, which the city is required by law to follow based upon the police officer’s bill of rights.
Any complaint regarding an officer, whether it is made by the police chief or a member of the public would go to the mayor, who would be responsible for deciding if the allegations are substantial. The police chief would then serve the officer with any type of violations that are filed.
If administrative violations are filed against an officer, the officer can request a hearing, which will be held in front of the mayor in a fourth class city, such as Williamsburg.
The hearing must be held within 60 days of an officers being served with any type of violations, and the officer can request that the hearing be closed or held publicly.
Nothing that the officer says during an administrative hearing could be used against them in a criminal case.
If administrative procedures aren’t followed properly, an officer could sue for improper dismissal and can win their job back.

State police investigation
Kentucky State Police are conducting their own investigation into the accident.
Trooper Greg Hill, the accident reconstructionist investigating the accident, appeared before the Whitley County Grand Jury last month for 10 minutes to obtain grand jury subpoenas for both Nighbert and Jackson’s medical records.
Last month, KSP Lt. Robert Massie said the case is currently an “open accident investigation” and wouldn’t say specifically whether it is being handled as a criminal investigation.
In terms of the medical records being subpoenaed, Massie said, “we try to make sure we have everything that could shed any light on any of the facts surrounding the incident.”
Massie said the purpose of presenting it to the grand jury would be to “see if all the facts constitute an assault.”
The accident report itself lists only a few details about the wreck, and under the narrative it indicates that the reconstruction report will follow, but so far state police have declined to release the reconstructionist’s report.
Under human factors that could have contributed to the crash, the report lists “other” for Nighbert, and “none detected” for Jackson.
Shelley said he hasn’t been contacted by state police recently concerning the status of their investigation.
“We have been concentrating on our administrative part of it. If they need anything they can call us any time. We will go out of our way to help them. They haven’t asked us for anything,” he said.
Shelley said his internal investigation is not contingent on any action that Kentucky State Police may or may not take.
Attempts to reach Nighbert by telephone at his Williamsburg residence were unsuccessful Tuesday afternoon, and no answering machine picked up at Nighbert’s published telephone number.
Nighbert is the son of Kentucky Transportation Secretary Bill Nighbert, who is a former Williamsburg Mayor.