SALT LAKE CITY -- Salt Lake County was suspended dozens of cases from being prosecuted because of the actions on one former Utah Highway Patrol trooper.
The former trooper in question is Neil Green.
“The Utah Highway Patrol takes troopers’ testimony and troopers’ integrity very seriously and this is a case where a trooper was not forthcoming and was not honest in his testimony,” said Sgt. Todd Royce, spokesman for UHP.
Green’s credibility came into question following an arrest he made in Davis County in August 2013. Green arrested a man on drug charges, during which time he said he administered a field sobriety test. However, the county later determined a sobriety test was not done. Green said he made a clerical mistake.
An internal investigation was launched in March 2014, and a few days later Green resigned.
“As soon as we found out there was some credibility issues among this trooper he was no longer in a sworn capacity,” Royce said.
In September 2014 the investigation concluded that there was not enough evidence to prove Green lied, but that his police work was sloppy and lazy.
“Whether it was sloppy or whether it was dishonest it still wasn’t up to the standards of a trooper,” Royce said.
Despite this conclusion, it wasn’t until April 2015, more than a year after his resignation, that Salt Lake County learned about Green, when he didn’t show up for a subpoena.
The district attorney wants to know why they weren’t notified earlier. Green currently has ties to between 20 and 40 cases within the county.
“Those cases where he is the exclusive officer we most likely will not be prosecuting,” said District Attorney Sim Gill. “It also means we most likely have to go back and take a look at some of the cases that have already been adjudicated and see what obligations we have under those cases as well.”
UHP said there isn’t any protocol in place that requires them to alert counties or courts that one of their troopers has either resigned, was fired or was under investigation.
“Notification to all of these agencies is difficult; we are working with the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office to come up with a solution to this problem,” Royce said.
If anyone has further information about their interaction with Trooper Neil Green, they can contact Lt. Craig Hicken at the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office.
