Lack of arrest after Cape officer crash raises questions

CAPE CORAL, Fla. — The owner of a Nicholas Parkway home damaged when an SUV driven by a Cape Coral police officer plowed into it is considering a civil lawsuit as he wonders why no arrest has been made.

Officer Emily Zyvoloski had a blood-alcohol level of .253 — more than three times the legal limit — when the crash took place Dec. 3. More than two weeks later, she remains on paid administrative leave and hasn’t been arrested.

But DUI investigations typically take time, experts say. Police have incentive not to rush, according to Peter Dennis, a Fort Myers attorney who isn’t connected to the Zyvoloski case but who’s handled hundreds of other DUI cases.

“Once an arrest is made, the clock starts ticking for the prosecution,” Dennis said. “So you don’t want to prematurely start that process. You want to make sure that before you do that, you have as much information as possible.”

The Cape Coral Police Department has been mum about the incident involving their officer, but in 2015, Lt. Dana Coston explained why it was nearly two months before police made an arrest in a fatal DUI crash at a pool hall.

“From the forensics at the scene, forensics of the vehicle itself, to lab work, to the high level of math involved, these can takes weeks if not months,” Coston said.

For now, the home hit in the crash is boarded up, and the waiting game continues.