Karen Pollard turns over cellphone passcode

Karen Pollard ... faces "internal review" by city

ROCHESTER - Rochester Police have now begun what is expected to be a forensic investigation of Karen Pollard’s city-issued cellphone to determine if there is information on it relevant to the hit-and-run accident in which her husband has been charged after she agreed through her attorney to relinquish its passcode prior to a court hearing on Tuesday morning, stating she wanted now to cooperate in the probe.

Newspaper reporters and television news crews, however, were caught off guard as they showed up at Rochester District Court for the expected 11 a.m. showdown spawned when Karen Pollard refused to give Rochester Police the passcode last week.

Karen Pollard, a passenger in the vehicle when her husband allegedly left the accident scene that left a woman injured, apparently gave police the password on Monday.

Meanwhile, Rochester City Manager Dan Fitzpatrick said the city was conducting an “internal review” of Karen Pollard, the city’s economic development director and a deputy city manager, regarding her conduct since the Dec. 29 accident to see if any disciplinary action is appropriate. The review is independent of any police investigation, he said.

The law firm doing the work handles all the personnel issues for the town, Fitzpatrick said, adding this type of “internal review” is nothing new to them.

He said the law firm is on retainer to the town but also has a per-hour fee attached to any investigation so he couldn’t yet estimate the city’s cost.

Karen Pollard’s husband, Leslie Pollard, is accused of driving drunk the night of Dec. 29 when he allegedly struck a 28-year-old woman on Lowell Street in front of the Revolution Church, then continued on to his house without stopping.

A few minutes later court documents indicate he told his wife to call police and sent another family member to the scene because he thought he might have hit “an animal or ice.”
Leslie Pollard faces felony conduct after an accident charge and a misdemeanor DWI. His next court date is for a probable cause hearing next month in Rochester District Court.

Police, meanwhile, want to probe Karen Pollard’s cellphone because it was indicated in court documents that she texted Rochester Police Chief Michael Allen the night of the incident as Rochester Police Officers were at her house conducting the initial investigation. Allen never returned the messages, he said, but in securing a search warrant police theorize other people may have been contacted and those messages might be useful in the continuing probe.

Court affidavits indicate the Pollards made contradicting statement and were deceptive when officers first interviewed them shortly after the accident, which left the victim with a broken collarbone.

Court documents also show that the Pollards were drinking with the victim and two other men at the Club Victoire in downtown Rochester the night of the accident and that Leslie and Karen Pollard stayed behind at the club after the other three left. When their car broke down on Lowell Street the victim is said to have gotten out of the car and stated she wanted to go home and started walking.

After the two men got the car going, they drove to the Pollards house, which they said wasn’t unusual because they were friends with them, court records state. Moments afterward, the Pollards arrived home and said they might have hit something in the road and sent a family member to check out the area, court affidavits state. Karen Pollard made her initial call to police at 11:32 p.m.

The victim, meanwhile, has said she had several drinks at the club, doesn’t remember leaving the club, then remembers walking on Lowell Street, being hit and then flagging down a motorist to help her after she was injured.

On Jan. 2, four days later, Karen Pollard reportedly called police to see if she could get her cellphone out of the car, which police seized on Dec. 30.

Police then began the process to seize the phone, later filing the motion to compel to force her to turn over the password last week.