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Former Riverside police chief drank 4 whiskeys before accident, lawyer says

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Just a few hours before crashing his city-owned vehicle last week, former Riverside Police Chief Russ Leach had been drinking at a strip club in Colton, according to a lawyer for the club and surveillance video.

Leach went into the topless Club 215 at 10:24 p.m. Feb. 7 and drank four Chivas Regal Scotch whiskeys, ate chicken wings and left at 1:48 a.m. Feb. 8, said club attorney Roger Jon Diamond.

“He was very dignified and behaved himself,” Diamond said. “He was eating and drinking by himself, but he did interact with other people.”

Diamond said Leach spent some time with one of the dancers and that California Highway Patrol investigators interviewed the woman, along with the bartender and manager.

“When he drove off, he did not appear to be driving erratically,” Diamond said.

The club turned over the video to the CHP, which is investigating the crash, which occurred about 3 a.m. Feb. 8 near Central and Hillside avenues in Riverside.

According to the police report, Leach’s car went the wrong way down the street and struck a curb. The black Chrysler 300, its front tires shredded to the rims, went on to hit a light pole and fire hydrant. Leach drove another three miles before coming to a stop.

When Riverside police arrived, they said Leach appeared unaware that he had been in an accident. Their report said that he repeatedly talked of having a flat tire. They also noted that he had been drinking but did not indicate that they had administered a sobriety test.

Leach, 61, later said he was on prescription drugs and “disoriented” at the time of the accident.

He resigned last week and the city has launched an investigation, overseen by the city manager and former Riverside County district attorney Grover Trask, to determine whether police responded to the accident appropriately or if Leach was given preferential treatment.

Leach could not be reached immediately for comment.

Diamond said CHP investigators had been to Club 215 several times in the last few days to interview anyone who might have interacted with Leach that night.

“I don’t know how they found out he had been there, but when they asked we cooperated with them,” Diamond said.

Cameras inside the club and in the parking lot caught Leach coming and going. The bartender later reported that Leach did not appear drunk, Diamond said.

Most of the time, Leach was alone at the club, located near the 215 Freeway.

“He had two separate bar tabs,” Diamond said. “The first was for $30 and he left $40, and the second bill was $22 and he left a $20 tip.”

Diamond would not comment on whether Leach was a club regular.

“We are caught in the middle,” he said. “We want to cooperate with the CHP, but we don’t want to go out of our way to violate any patron’s privacy.”

Investigators are still trying to fill in the gap between when Leach left Club 215 and when the accident occurred.

“We are not giving out any further information until we are done with the investigation,” said Lt. Dave Lane, a CHP spokesman. “We are following up on every lead and every fact. It would not be fair to put out wrong information either for or against Mr. Leach. We owe him that and we owe the public the absolute truth.”

The CHP is hoping to conclude its investigation in about a week.

david.kelly@latimes.com

Times staff writer Alexandra Zavis contributed to this report.

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