Cops: Ross Got Supreme Treatment

Mon., Dec. 27, 2004 9:35 AM PST by Charlie Amter

Diana Ross remains the supreme diva, in and out of jail.

In a new report, the Greenwich, Connecticut, police union accuses Chief James Walters of giving Ross kid-glove treatment during her short February slammer stint for a DUI conviction.

Ross was ordered to spend 48 hours in her hometown jail after being collared by police in Tucson, Arizona, in 2002 for driving with a blood-alcohol level of 0.20 percent, more than twice the legal limit.

According to the union report, Ross' brief jail stay included such perks as cell phone use and takeout food delivery. The 44-page document, confirming indulgences first reported months ago by the New York Daily News, also says Walters let Ross leave jail early--one of the few allegations in the report that Walters disputes.

The chief claims he only allowed the 60-year-old singer to go home early because he thought she could serve her two-day sentence in two 24-hour blocks. (An Arizona magistrate felt that because of the truncated jail time, Ross should have to redo her sentence, but a judge ruled in April that Ross had fulfilled her obligation.)

According to the Greenwich Time newspaper, the police chief was verbally reprimanded last week by First Selectman Jim Lash for his mismanagement of Ross' jail term, but no disciplinary action will be taken against Walters by the police union or the city.

Walters, who is under pressure from the police union for a litany of issues beyond Ross' special treatment, acknowledged during a press conference last Wednesday that he may have made some mistakes in his handling of the celebrity inmate.

"In the situation involving the incarceration of Ms. Ross, I made some poor decisions and accept responsibility for them," the chief said.

While Walters did not specifically state which decisions were "poor" regarding his handling of the R&B icon, he didn't exactly take full responsibility.

"I searched her bag the first night and did not see any cell phone," Walters wrote in a written response to the charges levied against him.

"It is standard procedure for the matron to search the detainee, and I assumed the matron would do so," he continued.

Ross has stayed mum on her conviction and subsequent jail sentence and is not expected to comment on the report.