Bisard foul-up: Who knew what, when?

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - I-Team 8 is working for answers on conflicting information about when police actually discovered the second vial of embattled Officer David Bisard's blood had been moved.

The announcement was made Tuesday, and the fallout has been swift. The latest includes additional calls for Public Safety Director Frank Straub to resign. That after Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department Chief Paul Cieselski stepped down, and three others in IMPD were put on leave. Now, prosecutors face additional problems as they try for a conviction against Bisard in connection with the fatal crash he was involved in on Aug. 6, 2010.

But a day after the revelation of the mishandling of blood evidence in the case, new questions have emerged. When did police actually know that second vial of Bisard's blood had been moved out of cold storage? John Kautzman, attorney for Bisard, told 24-Hour News 8: "I think there's a significant question about what they knew and when they knew it."

In a hastily called news conference Tuesday, Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard admitted the problem with a second vial of blood of Bisard's blood.

"As IMPD was responding to last week's court ruling concerning the second vial of blood in the David Bisard case, we discovered that vial had been mishandled by the IMPD property room," Ballard said.

At last Thursday's hearing, the judge ruled that second vial of blood taken from Bisard on the day of the fatal crash should be tested. The second vial could verify whether the vials contained Bisard's blood and whether the alcohol level previously found was valid.

Now, those findings may remain in question.

"Now that this issue comes up that shows it is clearly compromised,” Kautzman said, “there will be more legal motions filed and more hearings before the court on exactly where this will lead us."

But a comment made by Straub at Tuesday's news conference has led to questions about whether police knew about the problem with the vial before Thursday's hearing.

Straub said Tuesday: "We learned in early April that the vial had been moved. As a result of that, it was returned to the property room and returned to refrigeration."

That seems to contradict Ballard’s statement.

"I was struck by if they knew in early April why are these disclosures just being made?" Kautzman said.

Wednesday night, though, Straub told 24-Hour News 8 reporter Jay Hermacinski that it wasn't until Monday morning that he learned of the mishandling of the evidence.

We asked the Department of Public Safety to confirm when police officers first discovered the problem with the second vial. Those questions have not yet been answered. They say the investigation is on going.

The prosecutor's office said they found out Friday, after Thursday's hearing.