Sheriff Fries' brother-in-law talks about traffic stop involving councilman Paul Moss

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - An ethics commission is still looking into last month's traffic stop involving the Allen County Sheriff's Department and Allen County council member, Paul Moss.  On Monday, Jeff Werling, a brother-in-law of Sheriff Ken Fries, who was vacationing with Fries when Moss was pulled over, talked about what he has seen from the incident.

Werling contacted NewsChannel 15 after he saw Paul Moss' interview last week, and thought Fries' side had not been told.

"He does regret answering the phone," Werling said, who has known Fries for 16 years.  "But he will always answer his phone if someone calls him.  "He was upset councilman Moss called him, to even approach the subject.  Not to be let off, but to speed up the process."

According to Werling, he and Fries' families were vacationing in Florida the night Moss was stopped.

"We typically gathered at the pool early in the morning, to drink coffee, read the paper," Werling said.  "Figure out what we were going to do the rest of the day.  That morning, Kenny came down and unloaded, saying councilman Moss had called him, and relayed the whole incident about being pulled over on a suspicion of OWI."

Werling said Moss was not asking Fries to get him out of the stop all together, but to only speed up the process, he if that meant Moss had to go take a breathalyzer.  He added some people could mistake that as asking for a favor.

"That could be construed as one, yes," he said.  "I think the public perception is though, councilman Moss was asking to be let off totally.  He did not want let out of it, he just wanted the process sped up so he could get his kids home."

Werling said in all the years he's known Fries, the one thing he always does right, is distinguish right from wrong.

"He's one of the most straight police officers I've met," Werling said.  "It's either right or wrong, and if it's wrong, it's dealt with."

Werling said he was not speaking on Fries' behalf.  NewsChannel 15 called Fries on Monday night.  That call was not returned.

The Ethics Commission will review written letters from both Moss and Fries at a public hearing on Friday, September 7.