Judge imposes fine, community service on Baiul (02/16/97)

Judge imposes fine, community service on Baiul

TORONTO - It appears that Oksana Baiul will escape her latest misfortune with a dozen stitches, a small fine and some community work. Her license will not be suspended.

The former Olympic figure skating champion's appeal that she be spared the full force of the law, filed on January 27, was granted by a Connecticut judge on February 4.

According to an Associated Press report, at a 10-minute hearing in West Hartford, Superior Court Judge Terrence Sullivan sternly lectured Ms. Baiul before imposing a $90 fine and a requirement that she attend an alcohol education program and perform 25 hours of community service.

"You're just so incredibly fortunate," Judge Sullivan said. "I don't think you realize how serious this could have been. You wouldn't be standing here asking me for admittance to the alcohol education program. You'd be standing here asking me not to send you to prison."

Ms. Baiul faced drunken driving and reckless driving charges after a January 12 incident in which the Dnipropetrovsk native drove her green Mercedes off the road into a cluster of shrubs and trees near Bloomfield at a speed police estimated to be 97 miles per hour.

Other than judicial discretion, the professional athlete's sentence is a result of an assortment of legal procedures.

First, she was perversely taken to a hospital and treated for a concussion and a gash in her scalp. An AP report of January 30 quoted John Yacavone, chief of the Legal Services Division of Connecticut's Department of Motor Vehicles, as saying that certain steps have to be followed at the scene of a drunken driving incident for a license to be suspended.

"The way the law is written, it is impossible to take those exact steps if the operator of the vehicle has an apparent injury," Mr. Yacavone said. "The officer has to let them get medical attention."

As a result of this procedures, police could not test the Simsbury resident's blood alcohol level at the roadside. Ms. Baiul was tested at the St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center, and found to have a level of 0.168 percent, over the state's legal limit of 0.10 and 0.02 for drivers under 21.

The judge admitted he couldn't suspend Ms. Baiul's driver's license because a blood-alcohol test was administered at the hospital where she was treated, rather than by police. "Hopefully, that's a problem the [Connecticut] Legislature will address," Judge Sullivan said.

In addition, Assistant State's Attorney John O'Reilly said he agreed to reduce the reckless driving charge because the speed estimate would not have held up in court. Ms. Baiul pleaded no-contest to a reduced charge of traveling unreasonably fast.

If Ms. Baiul performs her community service within a year, all records of the drunk driving offense will be erased. A February 5 story in the Hartford Courant quoted Daniel Blume, one of Ms. Baiul's attorneys, as saying that his client has begun discussions with state officials and Mothers Against Drunk Driving about recording public service announcements aimed at teenagers.

In a related story, the Hartford Courant reported on January 16 that an unnamed hospital employee at St. Francis Hospital had been fired for releasing the skater's blood alcohol level to AP reporter Christine Hanley. Hospital spokesman Pete Mobilia told the Courant: "The hospital views the incident as the most serious breach of patient confidentiality possible, and, as a result of [an] investigation, the employee in question has been terminated effective immediately."

Mr. Mobilia added that hospitals routinely release limited information to the media about conditions of patients involved in accidents or crimes, but that the release of Ms. Baiul's records violated the code of confidentiality.

Ms. Baiul won a gold medal at the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics at age 16. She has left amateur skating to perform on the professional circuit and last year failed to meet the deadline to qualify for the 1998 Winter Games in Nagano, Japan.

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