Affidavit: Pollards at Victoire Club night of hit-run

Leslie Pollard (Rochester Police photo)

Karen Pollard

ROCHESTER - Karen Pollard and her husband were at the downtown Victoire Club the night he was allegedly driving drunk when he left the scene after a hit-and-run accident on Lowell Street not far from his house, according to court documents.

An affidavit for a search warrant to seize Karen Pollard’s town-owned phone details some of the investigation by police into the charges and also sheds light on the Pollards behavior when police first interviewed them late on Dec. 29 and into the early morning hours of Dec. 30 prior to Leslie Pollard’s arrest.

On Wednesday in Rochester District Court police sought a court order to force Karen Pollard to turn over the password on her phone so they could further investigate phone and text messages that may be on it, including several messages sent to Rochester Police Chief Michael Allen the night of the accident.

Allen told Foster’s Daily Democrat on Thursday that he never did respond to any of the text messages sent by Karen Pollard.

In the affidavit filed to seize her phone, it states the Pollards lied to police the night of the accident, saying they were at the Chef's Table, when it was, in fact, closed.

The affidavit also states that when officers arrived at the Pollard’s 17 Hemlock St. home and interviewed them, they could smell alcohol on Leslie Pollard’s breath and that he refused field sobriety tests.

It also stated that he said he saw something and heard “a bump” while driving on Lowell Street, but decided to go home before calling police.

Karen Pollard, who is also Rochester’s deputy city manager, made the Pollards' first call to police about five minutes after a Good Samaritan called after stopping to help the victim, a 28-year-old Rochester woman.

The affidavit also said Karen Pollard told police several times she worked for the city and would be complaining to her boss regarding the manner of how the officers questioned her. She also told police she had not seen anything when the accident occurred, the affidavit states, but then changed her story saying something about a person being hit but then later stated she hadn’t seen anything after all.

Karen Pollard’s court hearing seeking to compel her to turn over her phone password was continued until next Tuesday, presumably while she gets a lawyer.

Leslie Pollard, who is charged with felony conduct after an accident and misdemeanor DWI, has already hired Stephen Jeffco law offices of Portsmouth to defend him.