Does the district attorney have a beef with the Syracuse Police Chief? The Syracuse mayor seems to think so.

District Attorney William Fitzpatrick has begun a grand jury investigation into the son of Police Chief Frank Fowler over what has been described as a mere fender bender. From the outside, it certainly seems that the crime (if it can be called that) is not the real issue, but bad blood between the district attorney and the police over alleged lack of cooperation in investigation the Bernie Fine sex scandal may be the real cause for the spat. Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner has claimed that Fitzpatrick is wasting time and resources by acting on what is nothing more than a personal vendetta.

The incident that started this unusual public feud occurred Jan. 8 when Fowler's 20-year-old son backed his city-owned pickup truck into a coworkers' vehicle and then left the scene without reporting the accident. He said he was not aware he damaged the vehicle, so he did not leave a note for the other driver.

Fowler's son was suspended from his job for five days without pay for not reporting the incident, but he was not given a ticket by city police. Mayor Miner has said that's okay because giving a ticket is up to the individual officer's discretion.

Nevertheless, Fitzpatrick has started a grand jury investigation, even though violating a minor traffic rule like this arguably does not amount to a crime. He said he wants to understand why Fowler's son was not given a ticket. Naturally, his decision to so thoroughly investigate the incident has prompted accusations that he is wasting time and resources on a trivial matter.

Source: The Syracuse Post-Standard, "Fender bender prompts District Attorney William Fitzpatrick to launch grand jury probe of Syracuse Police Chief Frank Fowler's son," John O'Brien, Feb. 13, 2012