Atwater detective convicted of DUI resigns from department

An Atwater police detective who was on paid leave for more than two years while fighting charges stemming from an off-duty auto accident has resigned after a jury convicted her of drunken driving and hit-and-run.

Lisa Howard submitted a resignation letter Monday afternoon and returned equipment belonging to the department, police Lt. Samuel Joseph confirmed.

Joseph described Howard’s resignation as “voluntary.”

Howard, 34, was convicted Monday morning in connection with the crash in the early-morning hours of Aug. 1, 2013. Howard drove her 2011 Chevrolet Camaro into a house, a car and tree on Augusta Lane and left the scene, a Merced County Superior Court jury ruled.

Howard began a paid administrative leave from the Atwater Police Department on Aug. 5, 2013. Including the value of benefits, Howard will have grossed a total of $196,186.76 since the collision, according to Margarita Saavedra, Atwater’s city clerk and human resources spokeswoman.

Joseph said the department, which has been short-staffed for several years, hopes to hire someone quickly to fill the vacancy.

“We’re still down numerous positions that we really need to fill,” Joseph said. “We’ll work to get this full-time police officer position filled as quickly as possible.”

Howard joined the Police Department in August 2007. Over the years, she worked as a patrol officer and field training officer, and was promoted to the detectives division in 2013, just months before the accident.

At her trial, she testified that she was not under influence of alcohol at the time of the crash and that she tried to contact the homeowners after it happened, but said nobody came to the door. Her testimony was contradicted by others, including a witness who said he saw a woman leave the scene of the crash and said he did not see her try to contact the homeowner.

She told investigators she did not have her cellphone with her at the time of the crash, the Merced County District Attorney’s Office confirmed.

Howard maintained that she began drinking at home after the crash. The one police officer who spoke directly with her on the night of the collision, Atwater Officer David Sarginson, said he did not see any bottles of alcohol in her home. Sarginson also said in his report that Howard told him she planned to tell investigators she began drinking after she got home.

Following her conviction, Howard was ordered to serve 10 days on a work-release program with the Merced County jail. She also was ordered to pay a fine of more than $2,000, attend a driving-under-the-influence treatment class, serve 40 hours of community service and three years of probation.

The judge ordered Howard to surrender to the jail for a “book and release” to begin her work-release program. She was booked into the jail at 3:45 p.m. Monday and released about 45 minutes later, according to booking records.

The maximum penalties for a first-offense DUI and hit-and-run are each six months in jail. The minimum penalty is two days in custody. Work-release programs are common in such cases in Merced County, authorities said.

This story was originally published October 26, 2015 at 7:07 PM with the headline "Atwater detective convicted of DUI resigns from department."