Why Should Delaware Care?
Elected officials hold a position of public trust as they represent the best interests of their constituents, and therefore their arrests can impact their ability to serve. The recent arrest of a lawmaker has also raised questions about why the charges went unreported for so long.
For nearly two months, the Delaware public was not informed that a state lawmaker, Rep. Kevin Hensley (R-Townsend), had been arrested for what police described as drunkenly crashing his truck into a car on Route 1 near Milford, sending the smaller vehicle into a roll, and lacerating that driver’s hands and face.
Following the crash, the victim had also complained of chest pain, according to a police affidavit.
“I arrived on scene and made contact with the defendant Kevin S. Hensley who appeared to be under the influence of an alcoholic beverage,” the officer wrote in an affidavit, which also noted he had a 0.142 blood alcohol level – or nearly twice the legal limit of 0.08.
The News Journal/Delaware Online broke the story Friday, after Hensley’s arraignment had been publicly scheduled in Kent County.
The Nov. 9 episode, coming just days after Hensley won re-election to the statehouse in District 9, raised questions about why Delaware State Police officials had not previously released information about the crash.
This week, state police said it’s departmental policy is to not issue news releases for misdemeanor offenses, irrespective of whether the defendant holds a position of public trust.
Hensley has been charged with vehicular assault in the second degree, as well as charges related to driving drunk, having an expired insurance card, and improperly entering a roadway.
The crash occurred after Hensley turned onto Route 1 from a Valero gas station.
Spotlight Delaware asked the Delaware State Police why Hensley’s case was classified as a misdemeanor, given that the crash resulted in injuries to the victim.
In response, a police spokeswoman pointed to Delaware law that describes misdemeanor vehicular assault as one that results in a simple “physical injury,” while a felony case is one that causes a “serious physical injury.”
A serious physical injury is one that “creates a substantial risk of death, or which causes serious and prolonged disfigurement, prolonged impairment of health or prolonged loss or impairment of the function of any bodily organ, or which causes the unlawful termination of a pregnancy without the consent of the pregnant female,” according to Delaware’s legal code.
Last month, state police issued a press release regarding a different DUI and vehicular assault case in Greenville, that was Hensley’s case – but one that resulted in a felony charge.
In that case, a Pennsylvania man driving a Ford F-150 rear ended a Nissan Frontier that had been stopped at a red light on Kennett Pike. After the initial crash, the Ford truck then struck a Nissan Rogue causing it to roll over.
The 74-year-old driver of the Rogue sustained serious injuries, according to the state police.
The post Why Rep. Hensley’s recent DUI arrest wasn’t publicly reported appeared first on Spotlight Delaware.