Officer's blood-alcohol level twice legal limit at time of crash

how is it that an officer who is on call and using a company vehicle gets away with drinking and driving. if he had done it this time, how many other times had he done it? it is very unfortunate that he had been killed and i feel for his family. i just wonder who is going to pay for the city owned vehicle that he totaled in this accident? are the tax payers going to have to pay for it and him being an accident investigator, you would have thought that he would know better. don't you think that he would have been on the scene of accidents similar to his and had more common sense than to drink and drive. statics say that most accidents happen within 5 miles of your own home. everyone talks about how wonderful he was but guess what, looks can be deceiving. maybe he wasn't as perfect as everyone thought.

Who do you think is going to pay for his vehicle, funeral, and death benefits? The taxpayers. It's Youngstown, the city labor force will always have everything paid for by the taxpayers.

You guys are pathetic. Get a life and get out from behind your computers.

I know that everyone is entitled to an opinion and I certainly don't begrudge that, though ignorance seems to permeate when it comes to this particular subject and how matters are handled in unfortunate situations such as this.

Everyone "assumes" that the tax payers are going to be hit for all the funeral expenses, life insurance, etc. People need to get their facts straight!

First of all, there is tragedy here that yes - a WONDERFUL, OUTSTANDING man of the law had his life lost. Should his loss been put on a pedestal? ABSOLUTELY! For 9 long years this man put his life on the line for you, me, and everyone in the Youngstown area to make our streets safe. He did his call of duty. No one can take that away from him, and it should be rightfully addressed. Was he human? YES! And humans are known to sometimes make poor choices. We face them everyday! Did he make a poor choice with driving that night? Without a doubt, however it was a human error and it happens to ALL of us on a daily basis as major or minor as it may be.

Now - addressing the funeral costs...believe me when I say...the city does not pay for that, in fact, it falls into the responsibility of his widow and her two young children to cope with. Life insurance? Again, there is a widow with 2 children who will receive no benefits from this due to HUMAN error! So to think that the family of the deceased will be sitting on a high pile of money while us Youngstown City taxpayers are burdened with yet more financial demise is just completely foolish! Instead, this poor family is left holding the bag to deal with the loss of a great loved one, and left with the financial responsibility that will follow. So please, when venting about where our tax dollars will be spent on this, educate yourself before shooting at the hip. There are no winners here.

Case closed.

"WONDERFUL, OUTSTANDING man of the law"??? Tell me this, Irritated-what kind of wonderful, outstanding man of the law consumes enough alcohol to put him 2x over the legal limit, and then drives an unmarked police car, WHILE ON CALL?? What would have happened if he had to respond to a call? He could have caused a collision that would have left many more dead.

No Irritated, this is not simply a poor choice attributable to human error. This is carelessness and lack of respect for peoples' lives, pure and simple. How many accidents do you think he investigated that involved alcohol? Many, I'm sure. Yet this man CHOSE to drink excessively and then drive a police car. I feel for his family, but Deichman himself gets no remorse from me. And I'm sure if instead of hitting that semi he hit one of your loved ones, you would be singing a different tune.

well Eric, that is why you are entitled to an opinion and so am I. He was a wonderful and outstanding person. I am sure through the trials and tribulations of your life (assuming you are old enough to have one) you have made poor choices and in fact, have driven under not so great circumstances too. If you say you havent, then you are only fooling yourself. There are no saints out there. Everyone makes mistakes. Thanfully no one else was hurt...it's a sad loss all around. Let it go.

Thank you "Irritated One" you are so right! I would NEVER EVER drink and drive now, but I can tell you in my early adult years there were times that I drove after drinking and didn't think anything of it and on top of it all driving a $30,000 car. I can just imagine if God forbid I would of gotten in an accident or worse killed someone. But I learned NOT to do that and (as you know) I wont take a sip of an alcoholic beverage of any kind and get behind the wheel. So, we all make mistakes and this was a horrible tragedy and I wish i could change past and prevent this from happening but I can't. It's not for us to judge, God is doing all the judging. Just let him rest in peace please.

Geeze, this poor guy is dead, his family is devastated, his police family is devastated and you people are knocking him. I wonder how many among you have NEVER gotten behind the wheel after drinking? Obviously some of you have never suffered a loss yet, much less a tragic one. Remember this, everyone gets their chance in the barrel, there's no way out, we never know how it will come, but it will come. Don't be so quick to judge, show some compassion. This man protected YOU, be decent and protect his memory.

What a sad situation he left for his family to deal with after his death. They now know he was driving drunk at twice the legal limit without his seatbelt on, both violations of state law. He was a cop for God's sakes who should have known better. What was he thinking?

I wonder if the city of Youngstown with all it's hard economic times will sue his estate to recover the cost of the city car lost? They should. The citizens should pay for his mistake with their taxes.

You have to wonder how many more city employees are out there driving a city car while drinking? This is just another blackeye after the Daffy Dann affair for the Mahoning Valley.

Lots of us responsible citizens have never driven impaired. Cops expect respect and yet constantly let us down. As another poster said, if he had killed an innocent person during his drunken and speeding driving, and it was your loved one, would you be calling for this to be toned down? I doubt very much this was his first drunk driving and the guy is a traffic investigator! He died through his own stupidity and having seen traffic accidents involving alcohol, he should have known better. I feel sorry for his family but are they also not partially to blame? Society needs to quit glamorizing alcohol and show its true results. Broken families and the toll in deaths.

Grump..... don't you think that this is a realization that EVERYONE should know better. Just because he was a man of the law, doesn't make him exempt from making a bad decision, and we all have done that, myself included. He paid the ultimate price with his life. Instead of trashing his name because of a bad choice, take it as a learning experience of how precious life truly is and that one decision could take life away. His family is the one that has to hear and read all the ignorant opinions people have. Would you like it if something God-forbid happened to you, and people trashed your good name and bashed you down? I think not. Now his young daughters get to learn about how cruel the community and public can be with their opinions, and see the legacy of THEIR hero, destroyed. Show some discretion and compassion for God's sake!

A little note....there are MANY people that have driven their work vehicles while driving impaired and have not been caught or killed. Again, poor choices made!

RIP Robert

This man was not a "wonderful oustanding man of the law" nor was he a good father and husband. He was a criminal who failed his family. That is his only legacy.

The City of Youngstown needs to take immediate action to recover all costs associated with this man's crimes.

Robert was an outstanding man of the law and his legacy will live on. I guess it's safe to "assume" you don't have any skeletons in your closet. The ignorant comments need to stop for the sake of his girls. I'm sure if one of Robert's mourning fellow officers were standing in front of you the comments wouldn't be made. Stop hiding behind your computers and have some compassion for his family and friends.

What a sad state of the world when all some can do is try and taint any good memories of a dead man. This is a dead police officer,a son, a father, a husband. You all should be ashamed of yourselves! Call someone on the phone and discuss your "issues" with this if you must, but don't post ingnorant comments about a dead man on a public forum. That is about as low as it gets. There is a family mourning. Let the man rest in peace. Put yourselves in his family's shoes! Right or wrong, good or bad, this man was loved by many. Compassion...is there any left in the world?

God bless all who are hurting and mourning. My thoughts and prayers are with you all.

Okay, I acknowledge people make mistakes, but let's look at the facts: 1)He was 40 years old, certainly old enough to know better 2) He had responsibilities for a wife and children 3) He was a police officer, responsible for investigating accidents 4) And I think the worst part, he was intoxicated while on call.

Look Harley and Irritated, I think the big difference here are the circumstances. If he were a 23 year-old rookie with no other responsibilities, limited life experience, and not on call, I would be more sympathetic. Yes, I made mistakes in my 20s and learned from them. Thankfully I am still around to talk about it. But this man was a seasoned police officer with many responsibilities other than himself. He certainly knew better. So Harley, do you think a wonderful man of the law would go out and drink enough to get a blood alcohol concentration of .158, knowing he could be called at any point to investigate an accident? For a full-grown man to get to that BAC requires more than just a couple of beers. That shows more cockiness than responsibility. And yes, if I were standing in front of his fellow officers I would say the same thing, and any respectable police officer would agree with me. If God forbid one of your loved ones was killed by a drunk driver, would you go to the courthouse and ask for leniency because everyone makes mistakes? I really doubt it. I sincerely hope Mr. Deichman isn't an example of an "outstanding man of the law," because if he is, we are all doomed.

Did you know this man personally? Did he "do" anything personally to you for you to belittle him so harshly? Would you want your children to read such harsh public opinion about your loved one who is deceased? I think not! Think about how his children will feel reading the ignorance of others thoughts on it. I have not, nor do I excuse his irrisponsible behavior....but geez....there are friends and family that are still grieving. Can't you just keep your opinion to yourself?? HE WAS AN OUTSTANDING MAN OF THE LAW....AND I GUESS FOR THAT, YOU ARE DOOMED!

First of all I would like to say how badly I feel for his wife and daughters. No matter how bad of a decision he made, his wife and children are left without him and I'm sure they loved him dearly.
Second, there are people out there that have never drank and got behind a wheel of a car. I am one of them. I have been driving for 32 years and am proud to say I have never done such a thing and never will. I've had a few good friends die due to being hit by a impaired driver.
Finally, I feel that the news media should make a appology to the truck driver. When this first happened, the automatic assumption was that the truck driver was at fault. People were made to believe that the truck driver drove into the direct path of the car and that is not the case. That poor man did nothing wrong. All he did was go to work and a impaired driver hit his vehicle. I'm tired of people automatically assuming the truck drivers out there are the ones that cause the accidents where in fact most of the accidents are caused by the cars around them. And no...I am not a truck driver. I do however see many cars daily that almost cause accidents with one.
What is done is done and this poor family needs time to heal. Once again, my thoughts and prairs go out to his wife and daughters!!!

I feel bad for the family. He was old enough to know better. When I was younger I drove drunk more than a few times. But now that I'm older and have children of my own, I would never do that again. Not only for their sake, but for the sake of any other family I might effect. I'm still guilty of not wearing a seatbelt all the time though. It's a tragedy, but I must admit that I lost most of the sympathy I had for him when details started leaking. I do feel for his wife and kids though.

GEEZ~~ ROB GAVE THE ULTIMATE SACRIFICE~~ HIS LIFE!!

~~LET HIM "REST IN PEACE!"

~~ and now~~ Rob has been taken (WAS POSTED W/PIC) off the "OFFICER DOWN MEMORIAL PAGE" ~~ THIS IS WRONG~~ ROB WAS STILL AN OFFICER OF THE LAW AT TIME OF DEATH!!!

~~TO FAMILY = prayers & thouights are with you~~May God give you strength thru this difficult time.
~PEACE TO ALL OF YOU!!

sorry to hear his pic was taken down buttttttttttt come on now the truth has finally come out about this and TRUTH IS HE WAS DRUNK!!! AND I HAVE TO AGREE WITH THE OTHERS ONE HERE yes I feel bad for the family and hey keep the kids off the posting blog then if you dont want them to read the truth about there father!!!! the guy was drunk bottom line he should not of been drinking well on call and sorry but he did know better yes we all make misstakes but when he took the oath to protect the ppl then there are some things that come with that AND ONE OF THEM IS FOLLOWING THE LAW PERIOD!!!!!!!!DID HE FOLLOW THE LAW???? YES WE ALL MAKE MISSTAKES BUT HIS JOB WAS PROCTECT THE PPL AND HE DIDNT WHEN HE GOT BEHIND THE WHEEL KNOWING HE HAD BEEN DRINKING BY DOING THAT HE WAS NOT PROTECTING THE PPL HE WAS PUTTING EVERYONE IN DANGER THAT WAS THE ROAD THAT NIGHT!! AGAIN I FEEL BAD FOR THE FAMILY AND HE SHOULD OF THOUGHT OF THAT WHAT HE LEFT BEHIND FOR THE FAMILY TO HAVE TO CLEAN UP!!!

I will be happy to honor Deichman if I am guaranteed the same treatment.

If I am arrested for driving under the influence, I want a line of police officers paying their respects and expressing their admiration.

Who really knows the truth about their father on here...other than those that were close to him or the family? Just remember what karma is about...what comes around, goes around. Cast your cruel stones and your "opinions" on bits and pieces of information you "hear" spread around. This just shows how the ignorance of human nature really evolves! All of you can trash his name, trash his reputation, but NONE of you for the most part, even knew this man exhisted until he made the paper from a a horrible event. If you think keeping those kids off of the posts here will shelter them from the ignorance of people around, you are sadly mistaken! Take a look at yourselves in the mirror the next time you choose to offer an opinion...I am sure there are things about you that would not be held in such high respects. It's a shame that the human population can show such little compassion for a family...whether they wear blue, or are blood-related...to allow them to have their grieving process without the idiocracy of the community around. Have your opinions...be the experts you think you are....bottom line is...those who knew him, knew someone great...those who now "think" they know him...missed out on knowing a fantstic human being. No one is perfect. We all have our faults! Someday you will have to face the ultimate man upstairs and I am sure will have to answer to come of your cruel expertise!

ps...don't worry about us Robert...we all have broad shoulders and know the truth....
RIP my friend!

irritated_one - He was a DRUNK !!!! Most people have enough common sense to not drive DRUNK. A Cop who also is a DRUNK and chooses to drive while DRUNK is a embarrassement to the uniform and his position. You know what they say, birds of a feather flock together, and it sounds like Y-town cops are DRUNKS, especially those at the dart game birthday party that night.

An on-call police officer sets himself behind the wheel of his unmarked police car and drives off to oblivion. Hmm…it would be a sad story if not for the fact that he was drunk when he did so. It’s being said that his action that night was simply an error in judgment, a bad choice. Will he be held accountable for such? The media coverage this case has received points us to the answer to that question…no. Dead or alive, were I, the ordinary citizen, to make such an error, I most definitely would be held accountable. The circumstances surrounding my decision to drive drunk would be inconsequential. If I lost a child to a long and painful illness, my husband left me for another man, and my house was destroyed in a freak wind storm…the saddest country song ever written…it would have no bearing on my fate. I would still have to face harsh punishment…Alive, I’d have to pay thousands of dollars, face a jail sentence and lose my license, as well as wear that great big scarlet DD on my chest for the rest of my life. But who would care? I would simply be another drunk driver getting her dues. Dead, my existence would be reduced to “just another drunk driver, who thank God, only killed herself and no one else.” No one would be giving testimonials on television about what a wonderful mother and wife I was. No one would say how hard I always worked for the sake of my family and community. No one would say what a terrible tragedy (in the long list of tragedies that were my life) my death was. My fate would be a Godsend, another drunk driver off the road. But, I forgot, we’re not talking about me, the ordinary, honest, hard-working citizen, we’re talking about a police officer…a man sworn to uphold and enforce the law, a man who had a very clear understanding of the law, a man who saw more than a few deaths and mutilations as the result of drunk drivers. This was not an error in judgment, not a bad choice. This was not a mistake. When one dedicates oneself to law enforcement and public safety, there is no room for error. What this was was a blatant disregard for the law. So, again I ask, will he be held accountable for causing his own death? Will his fellow officers, his drinking buddies, particularly the one who dropped him off at his car and let him get behind the wheel drunk, be held accountable? Or will it be the truck driver, who by no choice of his own, was forced to share the road with a speeding drunk driver, who will be forced to take on this awesome burden of responsibility? Will the M.A.D.D. mothers and the students of S.A.D.D., D.A.R.E., and P.A.N.D.A.² be forced to dismiss the fact that this police officer was driving drunk because he was a police officer, or will they demand that because this drunk driver was a police officer, that he, even in his death and the other officer who allowed this behavior be held accountable and reprimanded thereby setting a precedent for all those who follow who believe they’re above the law?

*Like I said ^^ Rob gave the "ultimate sacrifice" ~~HIS LIFE!!
~~ Rob WAS posted on tne OFFICER DOWN MEMORIAL PAGE & NOW has been taken off of it ~~ so-o-o in otherwards, lets forget that he was a officer for NINE YEARS ~~ this is so wrong ~~ Rob WAS STILL AN OFFICER AT THE TIME OF HIS DEATH & should REMAIN ON IT!!
PEACE TO YOU ALL!!!!
~~ Many Prayers & Blessings to the Family.

hmmm-- funny of the line in the above statement is missing ^^^ IT IS ~~ so~~ DO WE FORGET THE NINE YEARS THAT ROB HAD IN BY removing him from the OFFICER PAGE!!!

SO SO WRONG!!

Let me start by saying, I'm am truly sorry for the children left behind from this tragic accident. It is not only a shame that they have lost their father, but even more so that it has come to light that he lost his life being less than an upstanding citizen. Nothing can take away his past accomplishments, however, unfortunate as it is he will be remembered as the on-call cop that doubled the legal limit for alcohol consumption. I respect that some posters on this site apparently knew this officer on a much more personal basis and are greiving his loss. My problem is that there appears to be a lack of understanding on their part to see the other side of the argument. He broke the law, he luckily killed nobody else, but it could have been a very different outcome. In a similar incident involving a drunken woman and an Austintown officer everyody is ready to lock her up and throw away the key. How is this any different? If you break the law there are consequences. In this case he paid the ultimate price. What bothers me more is that he was out with other officers that evening... somebody(sober) could have driven him home instead of back to the bar to pick up his car, DD for hire or a taxi. The blame cannot solely rest on his shoulders... there's plenty to go around.

It is quite obvious that Officer Deichman made a terribly fatal mistake that night and I am in no way defending drunk driving but please have respect for his family and fellow officers. There are other contributing factors in that deadly crash besides the obvious but of course some of us will never hear the other facts because we are too busy running our mouths. To Old Man Grump, I seriously hope that you never need an officer from YPD since they are "all drunks". Why don't you try doing for one day what YPD does in a week. We are quick to criticize the police until we need them.

Irritated, I have the right to express my opinion as much as you do. If you don't like it, don't read it. I don't agree with your opinion but I still respect your right to express it. And nobody is going to be able to shield his children from harsh public opinion. He was driving drunk while on duty. Case closed. No respectable man of the law would EVER do that. I am glad most of the people on this board agree with me. I hope you never have a personal experience with a drunk driver, because if you do, I guarantee your opinion will change.

I have Eric...and I have learned to forgive for their error...not bash their name.

concerend - don't send a DRUNK Y-town policeman to help me. Maybe that's why crime in Y-town is at an all time high????I did not say they were all DRUNKS. Only those at the birthday party dart game are suspected of being DRUNKS. If you can prove me wrong, go ahead and I will appologize. Otherwise my blog stands.

Haven't seen redcatcher running his mouth here since the news about the alcohol came out. I was looking forward to seeing him eat crow.

Old Man Grump, how do we know that all of the cops at the
b-day party were drunk? That is quite an assumption. Quite possibly the person that dropped Robert off at his car could have been the DD. And yes your previous blog did imply that you feel all Y-town cops are drunks,"sounds like Y-town cops are DRUNKS, especially those at the dart game birthday party that night.". As for the reason why crime is at an all time high, well I think we all know the answer to that. Why don't you go work a beat on the south side and tell me that crime is at an all time high because the
Y-town cops drink. I think what we all need to remember is that Rob was human and he paid the ultimate sacrifice for his choices and I really do not feel that it is fair to bad mouth the whole YPD because they had been out together previous to the accident.

For all of you who are now bashing the entire YPD , I suggest you get yourselves a scanner and spend some time listening. You have NO clue what these people are doing to protect you. And for what they have to deal with, I don't blame any of them for wanting to have a relaxing time with a few drinks. This was an unfortunate incident, as they say sh#t happens. Give it up, get off this bashing, give this family a time to heal, you are NOT helping, only hurting.