Deputy James Telban driving drunk and killing....

[WaTcHeR]

09.08.2006 - A Monroe County Sheriff's Deputy finds himself on the other side of the law after he's accused of driving drunk and killing a motorcyclist.

Police say the collision happened around 10:15 Wednesday night.

27-year-old Peter Volkmuth of Greece died after his motorcycle crashed into the side of the deputy's pickup truck.

That deputy is now charged with driving while intoxicated.

44-year-old James Telban has been with the Monroe County Sheriff's Office for 19 years.

Police say Telban was off-duty when he drove out of the Braemar Country Club on West Ridge Road in Parma.

At the same time, Volkmuth crashed into the side of Telban's truck where he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Volkmuth was wearing a helmet.

Telban was not injured in the crash.

"We've got an individual whose dead and a deputy who definitely made some poor choices in his behavior and obviously justice needs to be served and the individual needs to take responsibility for their actions," said Monroe County Sheriff Patrick O'Flynn.

Telban was arrested, but has since been released.

He has been suspended without pay.

The District Attorney's office is reviewing the possiblitiy of additional charges.

His court date is scheduled for September 26th.

www.wroctv.com/news/story.asp?id=24446&r=l

[KC]

September 26, 2006 — The off-duty Monroe County Sheriff's deputy accused of driving drunk and killing a Greece man, likely had a blood-alcohol content three times the legal limit, officials from the Monroe County District Attorney's Office said Monday.

Kristin Splain, DWI Bureau chief for the District Attorney's Office, confirmed that veteran deputy James R. Telban, Jr., 44, of Greece, was driving on Sept. 6 with a blood-alcohol content of 0.24 percent, the result of the deputy's preliminary test.

According to state law, the legal threshold for driving while intoxicated is a blood-alcohol content of 0.08 percent.

Over the weekend, he was charged with driving while intoxicated with a blood-alcohol content of 0.08 percent or more, a misdemeanor, she said. He was already facing one misdemeanor drunken driving charge from the Sept. 6 incident.

That night, Telban pulled his pickup out in front of Peter Volkmuth, 27, of Greece, who was riding his motorcycle west on West Ridge Road in Parma., Sheriff's spokesman Cpl. John Helfer said. Volkmuth struck the driver's side of pickup and died at the scene.

Volkmuth is survived by his wife Shannon and the couple's 4-year-old son Collin. Volkmuth was on his way to work — he was a machine operator for Birds Eye Foods Inc. — at the time of the accident, according to his wife. Peter and Shannon Volkmuth were high school sweethearts and were married for three-and-a-half years.

"He was a wonderful man and will be very missed," she said.

Telban, a 19-year veteran with the sheriff's office, was charged with driving while intoxicated and was suspended from his duties without pay.

"If an officer is involved in any wrongdoing, there's always an internal investigation," Helfer said. Specific circumstances of each crime then determine whether a sheriff's deputy is suspended, with or without pay, he said.

In this case, Telban is the subject of criminal and internal investigations led by the Monroe County District Attorney's Office and the Sheriff's Office.

Both investigations are underway and are expected to be completed within the next few weeks, Splain said. Once finished, she said, the case will be presented to a grand jury to determine possible additional charges.

Telban is expected to be arraigned on both DWI charges at 6 p.m. this evening in Parma Town Court.

www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060926/NEWS01/609260342/1002/NEWS