Mike Perlstein / Eyewitness News
NEW ORLEANS -- The now-suspended New Orleans Police officer who was arrested Friday for DWI and hit-and-run registered a .153 blood-alcohol level – nearly twice the legal limit of .08 – after being pulled over after she hit another car.
Keyalah Bell, who testified against fellow officers in the Henry Glover civil rights trial, was described in a police report as swaying, slurring her speech and reeking of alcohol.
Bell, 31, was given a release from jail by Orleans Parish Traffic Court Judge Robert Jones shortly after being booked Friday at 10 a.m. The parole release meant that Bell did not have to come up with bail, which was set at $7,500.
In their report, arresting officers wrote that Bell failed most of the elements of a field sobriety test they administered near the scene of the accident in the 5400 block of Tullis Drive in Algiers.
Bell, an eight-year veteran officer, was immediately suspended without pay. In November, Bell testified at the trial of five current and former officers accused in the shooting, burning and cover-up in the killing of Henry Glover in the days after Hurricane Katrina.
As a 4th District patrol officer, Bell was one of the first officers to respond to the Algiers strip mall where Glover was mortally wounded. She also testified that she received reports from Glover’s family that he was shot and had gone missing, saying she was afraid to volunteer the information for fear of retribution.
Three officers were convicted in the case. David Warren was sentenced to 25 years in prison for violating Glover’s civil rights by manslaughter and Greg McCrae was sentenced to 17 years for burning Glover’s body in the car. A third officer, Travis McCabe was convicted of covering up the killing, but that conviction was overturned after new evidence was discovered.
