Orlando Police Officer Arrested on DUI in Edgewood

By Orlando Personal Injury Attorney on July 23, 2018

Police working within the city of Edgewood were first notified about the dangerous driver at close to 11:30 in the evening of Friday, July 13th. Reports began coming into the station telling the Edgewood Police Department that a person driving a pickup truck was seen driving into a row of bushes as well as traveling in the opposite direction of traffic down a busy road. When officers arrived and located the truck in question, they found that the person driving it was doing so in an erratic and dangerous way, so a traffic stop was initiated.

The driver of the car was asked to step out of the vehicle, a simple enough request that he faced difficulty in complying, and the driver wound up falling on their face into the grass near the road. When he finally pulled himself up, the driver then clung to the side of the truck for support and seemed completely unable to stand without holding on to the vehicle.

Officers asked the man for his driver’s license, at which point he pulled out his wallet and handed Edgewood Police a credit card.

Eventually, the license was obtained and the responding officers were somewhat disappointed when they learned that the man, who also smelled strongly of alcohol and had extremely bloodshot eyes, was a nearly 20-year veteran of Orlando Police Department.

The Edgewood Police asked the highly intoxicated off-duty police officer to undergo field sobriety tests, but he refused. Instead, he agreed to take a breathalyzer test. The results of this test, taken at just before 10:00 in the morning placed the man’s BAC at 0.253. In other words, he was driving his truck after having consumed enough alcohol to place his BAC at over three times the legal limit of 0.08.

Edgewood Police promptly arrested the individual and took him to the Orange County Jail where he was held on a DUI charge. According to an official statement from a spokesperson with the Orlando Police Department, the drunk officer has since been removed from all law enforcement duties and that he is currently on paid administrative leave. An internal investigation was also begun, although it is believed that this investigation will be placed on a temporary hold until the traditional criminal litigation takes place.

James O. Cunningham

Since 1977, personal injury lawyer James Cunningham has provided effective legal advocacy to people who are injured through the negligent actions of another person or entity throughout the Central Florida area. He fights to obtain recoveries for his clients’ physical and emotional pain and suffering and pursues his clients’ personal injury cases with a commitment to excellence and impeccable preparation.