City Councilman Not Cited in Accident

DAVENPORT | City Councilman John Lepley, who goes to trial next month on a battery charge involving an alleged road rage incident, was involved in a two-car accident Thursday afternoon but was not cited, even though the other vehicle had the right of way.

Lepley told police he was stopped at the stop sign on Kissimmee Avenue at the intersection of Kissimmee and East Palmetto Street and didn't see an approaching SUV because a plant obstructed his view. The plant is a Mexican agave called a Century plant.

Lepley, 59, was not given a ticket. He did not return a reporter's phone call seeking comment Friday afternoon.

According to the police report, the driver of the Ford SUV, Jennifer Schappert, 37, of

Davenport, was heading east on East Palmetto Street. Schappert did not have a stop sign.

According to the report, Lepley was driving his wife's 1993 Dodge pickup.

'He said he stopped, and because of the shrub he did not see the vehicle coming and pulled out. They (passengers of the other car) say he ran it (the stop sign),' said police Chief Charles Clements. 'He is listed on the report as Vehicle One, and they are usually the driver listed at fault.''

Schappert said Lepley admitted to them he was at fault, and she is upset he was not ticketed.

'I think it is because of who he is. He came up to the car after the accident and said ‘It's my fault. I'm sorry. Is everybody OK?' He realized it was his fault. Why wasn't he given a ticket? I am not trying to cause trouble, I just want my car fixed, and his insurance is not going to pay because he wasn't given a ticket,'' Schappert said.

Schappert said the officer who investigated the accident, police Cpl. Larry Holden, asked her for her license and information but never asked her for her account of what happened.

'He didn't ask me about information for the report at all. He took my license and walked away and then came back and asked the names of everyone in the car, and then he walked away again,'' she said.

Schappert said she thinks Lepley slowed down but did not completely stop at the stop sign. She said she had her two children and a friend's two children in the car with her.

'He hit the front bumper area of the passenger side of my car,'' Schappert said.

Clements said it is an officer's discretion whether to issue a citation in a traffic accident. At the time, no injuries were reported. Since then, the chief said, a parent of one of the children in the car said a child was injured.

He said Holden would have to redo the report now that injuries are being claimed.

'After reading the report, I probably would have given anybody the same consideration,'' Clements said of the decision not to issue a ticket because of the plant.

Clements said the shrub, which is located in the right-of-way, would probably need to be removed.

'We do have some things like shrubs and trees in the right of ways, and we need to go through the city and evaluate them. We will probably do that on Monday,'' Clements said.

He said anything deemed an obstruction would have to be removed.

Lepley will be in court next month on charges not related to this accident. He was charged in November with misdemeanor battery stemming from a suspected road-rage incident Oct. 17. County Judge Timothy Coon ordered that a trial in a misdemeanor battery case be set sometime during the week of April 7.

According to the Polk County Sheriff's Office, which investigated that incident, Lepley was driving his black Crown Victoria on County Road 532, also known as Polk/Osceola County Line Road, about 5 p.m. Oct. 17.

Brent Burns, 19, who lives on County Road 547 North in Davenport, told investigators that he was driving in front of Lepley's car when he saw what he thought was a police car behind him and rapidly slowed down from 65 mph to 55 mph. Crown Victorias like Lepley's are sometimes used as unmarked police cars.

In the sheriff detective's report, Lepley told investigators he had to swerve to avoid hitting Burns, then flashed his lights and motioned for Burns to pull over.

Burns said in the report that he was afraid to pull over and drove to the Police Department, and Lepley pulled in immediately behind him.

Burns said in his statement to police that Lepley then grabbed him and shook him and he was afraid for his life.

Lepley, who has denied making any physical contact with Burns, has declined to comment on the case.