Oklahoma Highway Patrol arrests fellow officer for DUI

Well well... So they CAN arrest their own! A nice change of pace compared to the typical headlines of "Police officer kills unarmed man, takes three year paid vacation, back on force."

Source - KSWO.com

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla._The Oklahoma Highway Patrol has confirmed the arrest of a state trooper which occurred Thursday, July 3rd, 2014, in Sequoyah County.

At approximately 4:30 PM on Thursday, OHP officials received reports of a single vehicle collision involving an OHP patrol vehicle and boat.

State Troopers arrived to find a collision involving a marked OHP SUV towing a Patrol vessel and being driven by Trooper Joshua Davies. Trooper Davies showed signs of intoxication and was immediately arrested for suspicion of DUI by Troopers on the scene. Arresting troopers later administered a routine state breath test where Davies registered over the legal limit.

"It is an emotionally draining situation when an officer finds himself in a position that he must arrest one of his own. Our Troopers displayed professionalism in administering their duties during this unfortunate event. This individual was immediately arrested by state troopers on the scene and charged with DUI in compliance with state statute. This type of behavior will not be tolerated under any circumstance", stated Chief of Patrol Colonel Ricky Adams.

Davies was arrested by troopers and booked at the Sallisaw Police Department. He has been with the OHP for eight years and has been placed on routine administrative leave pending the results of an internal investigation.

It happens more often than you think. They prefer to keep things like this internal for some reason though.

Well I hope he likes a desk gig and having no friends for the rest of his career.

Because that's what he's about to end up with for being honest behind the blue line.

a reply to: NthOther

It doesn't appear he had much choice of lying vs honesty, since the report states that he had wrecked an OHP vehicle, and was showing visible signs of intoxication.

I do find it interesting it took 4 days for this to hit the media. Also curious as to whether or not he was on-duty at the time, although I would presume so since he was driving an OHP vehicle at the time.

He'll never live this one down internally though, going to be the butt of jokes for years.

Chief of Patrol Colonel Ricky Adams
"It is an emotionally draining situation when an officer finds himself in a position that he must arrest one of his own."

One of his own!!
So, they consider themselves different from the rest of society?

originally posted by: VoidHawk

One of his own!!
So, they consider themselves different from the rest of society?

I noticed the language too. He's basically admitting that the emotions engendered by the fraternal relationship among LEOs play a role in their willingness to execute standing orders.

Arresting "one of their own" is "emotionally draining", but they get their rocks off arresting everyone else.

a reply to: VoidHawk
It's us vs them is how they see things...
I wonder if this criminal will be prosecuted though.
Good of the other cop for busting the crook when he OBVIOUSLY had to.
Here in Sacramento years back the sheriff (Robbie Waters) crashed his car into a center divide on the freeway, he was drunk as well and arrested.
He is now a more successful local politician, he was eventually voted out of office but did not lose his job...

originally posted by: VoidHawk

Chief of Patrol Colonel Ricky Adams
"It is an emotionally draining situation when an officer finds himself in a position that he must arrest one of his own."

One of his own!!
So, they consider themselves different from the rest of society?

Of course they do. In some respects, they are. Much like the military/civilian divide.

I'm not one of those complete "anti-coppers" because I realize they work a low-paying, stressful, demanding job, with little thanks from the majority of society.

Someone just had a car accident, there are four decapitated bodies to clean up. You want to go do it? Guess who does.

However, is it really too much to ask for our law enforcers to abide by those same laws we are subject to?

Like most holidays where there is a surge in drunk driving, there was a big media campaign saying they were going to be out in full force looking for drunk drivers this past weekend. Yet, one of those drunk drivers was the same person obligated to stop those who do so.

A couple of months ago we arrested a neighboring agencies officer for DUI. He was in his personal vehicle, no accident occured and it was 3:00 AM.

He could of easily been given a ride home and no one would have known about it but we choose not to because he screwed up and he needed to take his licks for it. We have no room for officers that choose not to take the high road.

The truth is we do arrest "our own." However the media nor the general public really gives us the credit for it. They prefer to blanketly bash us instead.

originally posted by: TorqueyThePig
The truth is we do arrest "our own." However the media nor the general public really gives us the credit for it. They prefer to blanketly bash us instead.

I applaud you and your agency's integrity.

Countering the "blanket-bashing" is one of the reasons I started this thread. Many of us are jaded from only hearing the negative stories, and unfortunately they spread farther and faster than the good. Very rarely does it make the news when an officer pulls over to help someone change a flat tire, or the various other good deeds done by officers in their day to day duties.

Not many know of this great man either.. Kevin Briggs (aka Guardian of the Golden Gate Bridge)

Briggs originally applied to the California Highway Patrol for employment when his friend applied and he wanted to see what it was about. During his career, he estimates that he talks someone down from committing suicide on the Golden Gate Bridge twice a month, and has done so since 1994, the year he started patrolling the bridge. By his estimate, he has talked two hundred people into not jumping, with only two people deciding to jump after he interceded.

According to Briggs in 2003, a typical conversation starts by asking how are they doing, followed by asking them their plan for tomorrow. If they don't have a plan, he would then attempt to make them one, inviting them to come back to the bridge if the plan does not work out at the end of the day. In 2013, he would ask people, "Are you here to hurt yourself?"

We need more like this.

UPDATE:

Trooper threatened suicide, ran from authorities before being arrested, records show

An Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper arrested last week for DUI after a single-vehicle, on-duty crash threatened to kill himself and had to be wrestled to the ground by other troopers prior to his arrest, according to a probable cause affidavit released Wednesday.

Troopers reported that Davies showed signs of intoxication, and a breath test indicated that he had a 0.26 blood alcohol concentration, according to a Sallisaw Police Department booking sheet. Davies blew a 0.27 in a separate test. (Limit in OK is .08, anything above .15 BAC is aggravated DUI.)

According to the affidavit, troopers arrived at the crash scene and found that his patrol unit had suffered minor damage, while the OHP boat he had been towing had detached and was a total loss. (at a cost of $65,000 for the boat)

Davies, according to the report, told responding troopers that he was “OK,” and that he had suffered a blowout. Troopers noticed that Davies’ speech was slurred, and noticed an odor of alcohol, the report states. Davies would maintain distance between himself and responding troopers, was sweating “profusely” and smoking “one cigarette after the other.”

He first told troopers that he had drank alcohol only after the crash had happened. He later admitted that he had drank “all night and during the day,” according to an affidavit.

Trooper Clint Craft placed Davies in his vehicle and then walked to Davies’ vehicle to disassemble his weapon, according to the report. Craft reported that when he confronted Davies about being intoxicated, Davies said he would kill himself before he would be arrested for DUI and “sit in the county jail.”

Davies was eventually placed in the front passenger side of Capt. Mike Sharp’s vehicle when he jumped out of the door and began to run. He was wrestled to the ground, handcuffed and taken to the Sequoyah County Courthouse for a breath test, in which he blew a 0.27, according to the affidavit.