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Season Six: Don't Drink and Police (2025)
24 Plays23 minutes ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Z3zqhrcVFU
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Transcript
Opening and Content Warning
00:00:00
Speaker
The content you're about to hear may be graphic in nature. Listener discretion is advised.
Impact of 'Drive Sober' Campaigns
00:00:25
Speaker
This is True Crime
00:00:58
Speaker
After the holidays, like do you remember the Don't Drink and Drive campaigns for like New Year's? Yeah, I think so. ah It stands out in my mind a little more for like ah safe and sober prom or whatever, but it seems like maybe there were some New Year's campaigns. they run You're right. They do run the safe and over prom stuff, but they run like a big marketing push through...
00:01:27
Speaker
this organization I did not know existed called the traffic safety marketing. And you go to their website, they're part of the national highway traffic safety administration, but it's called traffic safety, safety marketing.gov. And they have all the old like social media playbooks. They have like, it's categorized on there, but it's not where you can easily search it. And they're like 30 pages long, but they're all like drive sober campaigns and they run them every year.
00:01:58
Speaker
from like mid-December through New Year's. And they spend a lot of money on these campaigns. And I find these campaigns interesting for like several different reasons. One, you shouldn't drink and drive.
00:02:14
Speaker
Like, so there's that. The second part is like, it is the time of year where I think more people drink than usual. just based on the statistics about depression and the holiday season.
00:02:26
Speaker
Do you think that the ad campaign makes any difference?
Effectiveness of Public Service Campaigns
00:02:30
Speaker
i See, that's the okay so that's part of the question that I'm asking today.
00:02:36
Speaker
And I don't know the answer to that. I've often wondered about programs like Mothers Against Drunk Driving, which for all intents and purposes has sort of a noble cause to it.
00:02:48
Speaker
And i've um I've also wondered about, like, D.A.R., like Drug Abuse Resistance Education. Like, there are things that, in it just in my opinion, ah that are beyond the control of, like, these types of campaigns.
00:03:05
Speaker
Essentially, i think they they probably affect a much smaller percentage of people than we realize. guess my thought on it is that...
00:03:18
Speaker
You either, i do sort of get the prom thing, like, because just in case you're a teenager who didn't think about it, right? Yeah. They reinforce the, like, you know, if you're drinking, don't drive. But run-of-the-mill adults out drinking, you know not to drive. Right. Don't you?
00:03:39
Speaker
i I would hope so, yeah. and And so to me, I feel like while I would never say that that general public service announcement would be a waste, I'm just not sure that if you boiled it down to everybody who's out partying over the holidays – And whether they get behind the wheel of their vehicle and drive over the limit of intoxication, i don't know how much those commercials and those ad campaigns come into play for that decision.
Alternatives to Drinking and Driving
00:04:14
Speaker
Yeah. And we're we're getting to the point, which this is going to sound even crazier, and I know that as I say it, like Uber and Lyft.
00:04:25
Speaker
And like there's these drive-safe hotlines that you can call. And those things make it where if you're like remotely plotting your night out, you can ultimately get almost anywhere. like I watched Judge Fleischer down in Texas, his little court cam thing. He has a lot of reels.
00:04:50
Speaker
Is he on social media? Yeah. he Like somebody has taken all of his court camp stuff and put it on social media under the Judge Fleischer Chronicles. And he's like a ah smaller district court judge down in Texas. And like, he's always wearing a bow tie and his glasses and his like a little outfit. And like his thing is $40 gets you anywhere in town, man. Like you like, it'll pick you up. It'll take you, it'll drop you off. It's way better than having like all the expense of like what's going to happen to your insurance and losing your license and all of the things that happen to you if you're caught drinking and driving. Yeah.
00:05:24
Speaker
Not to mention if you kill someone. Right, right. Which is the other thing that like makes me not go full bore against whether these campaigns make any difference or not. Because even if you save just one life, I guess it's probably worth it in terms of like the the expenditures and and like how those campaigns work.
Police DUI Incidents Unveiled
00:05:45
Speaker
So since summertime this year, in the back of my mind, I've had this idea related kind of around the don't drink and drive campaigns because I started seeing these things happening where police were being arrested for drinking and driving.
00:06:03
Speaker
so I was like, okay, I'll look into this and I'll pull a few things and I'll put some sources together and I'll see what the best sources are and see if I have enough for a story. And I think I ended up with like 18 stories. Yeah.
00:06:15
Speaker
I feel like that is one of the um sort of most interesting hypothesis, hypotheses that we like, when we hypothesize something, is this topic something we can come up with enough to cover it on a show?
00:06:33
Speaker
We never fail to find out how much is out there. Even just like, so I i like gathered like, i think five of them are just from December. And they were they were headline articles that had like court documents backing them.
00:06:48
Speaker
And they were interesting. And they were like a variety of things that police do. So probably by the time people see this, I've titled this something like, don't drink in police or something.
00:07:00
Speaker
And i' put these stories together. And they're from all over the place. they're not like Although I will say there was a disproportionate number of these type stories in Florida.
00:07:12
Speaker
Which is a whole thing that like, and you'll see in the springtime, like some of the episodes that we've been recording are related to stories in Florida. but Hold on. So how much of this do you think is a branch off of the Dirty Badges?
00:07:29
Speaker
um Well... i Was it two separate ideas or... i You know, this maybe came around the same time we were looking at that, but I kept most of...
00:07:41
Speaker
Most of the Dirty Badge stories are much more serious incidents in my mind, but I don't know that that's going to be the case for like people reading these stories and listening to what we're saying about these, and because some of these are pretty serious.
00:07:55
Speaker
Well, sure, but for the most part, a an officer... driving Getting a DWI alone is usually not enough to make the dirty badge criteria. Now, it is enough to make it on the don't drink in police.
00:08:13
Speaker
Right. right that And that's probably the that's probably the difference in the two. Right. Because it was so many we had to completely branch off. Yeah. like Because it takes time to like see. With those popping up, like one of the keys to it is seeing how it ended.
00:08:30
Speaker
And like, I ah don't like to like to pull something for a dirty badge story and cover it and then not really know the ending because so many of police incidents of misconduct and with like, this is a personnel issue. Can't tell you anything else about it, but the cop doesn't leave the job.
00:08:50
Speaker
And that part was pretty fascinating to, to try and ah differentiate between like, don't drink and police versus like, you know Dirty badges. Dirty badges, they tend to have committed much more serious crimes. like One of them that comes up is like a former officer, and he ultimately, we I believe, is responsible for an execution-style hit. That's a very serious thing.
00:09:17
Speaker
And it's not that Don't Drink in Police is less serious. It's just a little... like The endings are a little more... but like not likely to result in life in prison, i think is, is, is where I'm headed with it.
00:09:32
Speaker
Well, I just thought it was interesting that we ended up with this whole other segment that is equally interesting in its own way. So I went back a little bit in time. ah i think this officer ends up on my radar because I was looking up someone else like nearby, WTOL 11 was,
00:09:52
Speaker
They published an article in September of
Officer Michael Irvin's Troubled History
00:09:56
Speaker
this year. So this is out of Toledo, Ohio. And this is... Interesting because like they did some pretty good investigative work on this article, but ultimately it is credited just to 11 investigates.
00:10:11
Speaker
So I don't know who is like working behind the scenes here that doesn't want to like have their name associated with what's happening, but I'm here for it. I did see they put a couple of names like on the pictures and on some of the segments, and that's Melissa Andrews and Brian Duggar.
00:10:27
Speaker
ah They published this out September 2025.
00:10:31
Speaker
The article reads, 11 investigates fired Wall Bridge police officer previously resigned from Toledo after three separate incidents involving alcohol, according to records.
00:10:44
Speaker
They update this throughout the day when we we first put it up, but the subtitle says, Officer Michael Irvin is facing criminal charges after police and the mayor say he showed up to a call in Wall Bridge with a blood alcohol level of.168.
00:10:59
Speaker
eight And for those of you following along at home, that's twice the legal limit in most states of the United States. Correct. Yeah, it just happens that what is what this guy is doing is he's been drinking on the job.
00:11:15
Speaker
And like we talked about a prosecutor earlier in the year that gets in a lot of trouble for having been caught drinking. related to one of the cases that we've been covering ongoing that may or may not go to trial. But here's this article. Toledo, Ohio, a Walbridge police officer is out of a job facing charges for allegedly showing up to a call drunk.
00:11:33
Speaker
Walbridge Mayor Ed Kalenko told 11 Investigates that Officer Michael Irvin arrived at the scene on August 23rd, more than twice the legal limit to drive, with a BAC of.168.
00:11:46
Speaker
He said that the people who originally called for help then called back to report that Michael Irvin was intoxicated. Those residents called police when they returned home and found their truck door open. So the door of a vehicle in their driveway is ajar.
00:12:04
Speaker
When Michael Irvin arrives, they call the Wood County dispatcher back to say that they believed he was drunk. So a Lake Township officer responds and then called the Wallbridge police chief and to report he believed that Michael Irvin may have been drinking.
00:12:21
Speaker
A separate Walbridge officer arrives and takes over the case and then later drives Michael Irvin home. This is not the first time Irvin, 35, has been on 11 Investigates' radar.
00:12:33
Speaker
In February 2024, 11 Investigates reported on officers with troubled histories jumping from department to department. And that's one of the things that is like really important to me in these stories.
00:12:47
Speaker
These officers get in trouble at one department, and then they move over to another department. And so that's what that's why we're using this particular source. That's why we're talking about this story.
00:12:58
Speaker
What I did find a little fascinating here was 11 Investigates has already covered this officer. So during their investigation, they discover that Michael Irvin had resigned from the Toledo Police Department.
00:13:14
Speaker
while he was under investigation September 2022, and then by October 5th, 2023, he's hired on as a Wallbridge police officer. So a review of his Toledo file shows that Michael Irvin was disciplined on November 9th, 2017, and then again on June 14th, 2019 for off-duty accidents that involved alcohol.
00:13:40
Speaker
Now, to be fair to Michael Irvin, This is different. This is not an off-duty accident involving alcohol. This is showing up to a called drunk, allegedly. But, well, okay, yeah, you're right. It is different, but, like, he still drove there.
00:13:57
Speaker
he didn' i But there was no accident, I guess. okay That assumes fact's not in evidence. We don't know that he drove there. um I'm going to defend him a little bit on that end. Okay, fine. Sorry, I mentioned it. we We'll go with what there is, right?
00:14:13
Speaker
I mean, I have seen officers who walk out of the police department and walk to a call. I don't think that's what's happening here, but I'm, you know, I'm going air on this. I'm pretty sure regardless of whether or not he drove, you're not supposed to be drunk at work. You're definitely not supposed to. not supposed to be drunk at work.
00:14:29
Speaker
At any job. Like this year, I have seen elementary school teachers and daycare workers who have been called out for being drunk at work. ah So, yeah, you're definitely not supposed to do if you're a police officer.
00:14:43
Speaker
that know That would be the irony of ironies, is if you have a drunk police officer show up to arrest a drunk teacher for for drinking at work. Yeah.
00:14:54
Speaker
That's not what's happening here. But they do say that in the Toledo police file, On October 1st, 2021, he was involved in an accident at Telegraph Road and Temperance Road in Erie Township in which his truck was struck by a train.
00:15:10
Speaker
Let that sink in for a second. So this is Michael Urban, the guy that shows up in 2025 drunk. His truck was struck by a train. A CSX employee told the local police that Michael Urban's truck drove through Brush Road went airborne, landed on the tracks in front of the train, and was then struck by the train.
00:15:35
Speaker
Wow. does yeah But does that mean, like, okay, it was struck by the train, so does that mean, like, he had to time it perfectly to get it in front of the train? i don't know.
00:15:47
Speaker
i don't know what this was, whether, like, he realized he was going too fast to stop before the train hit a crossing, and he, like, pulled off to the side and was, like, jumping over. I don't know what they're saying Like, that's a lot.
00:16:00
Speaker
And that's in 2021. Oh, yeah. So Michael Irvin's in the vehicle. He suffers a head wound. He ends up being transported to the hospital. The blood draw that night indicated that his ethanol level, like his like the alcohol in his blood, was around a 0.32.
00:16:21
Speaker
And then this article goes on to say, which would have likely been over the legal blood alcohol limit, Okay. A.32 would likely be over it? That's just what they're saying. That's like four times it.
00:16:36
Speaker
ah If I'm understanding all the the translations, it's at least that. oh Okay. So the officer, Michael Ehrman, he originally gets charged with having BAC of.17 or more, and they just kind of cut it there. like He's basically charged with having...
00:16:54
Speaker
Too much to drink, probably at least double the limit, 0.17 or more. And I think that's because it's capped with an aggravating factor. So the Monroe County prosecutor up there, they pursue this case until November 1st, 2022.
00:17:10
Speaker
And according to the prosecuting ah attorney there now, the case is dismissed without prejudice in November 2022. So basically a year and a month later.
00:17:22
Speaker
At the time of the incident, this prosecuting attorney that's talking to 11 investigators, his name is Jeffrey Yorkey, he was not in office. He says he has no involvement with the case, but looking through the notes, he said it appears that whoever from CSX was the witness to the insanity that was happening with the truck being on the tracks and having been driven through the brush was not cooperative with the investigation. And there may have been some issues trying to track down the lab employee who analyzed this blood sample.
00:17:53
Speaker
So it also appears that like after this happened, there was no usual follow up for investigation by the law enforcement who was involved with this case. And,
00:18:05
Speaker
Yorkie says it's problematic for me. I don't like the fact that they didn't follow through. i I've seen this a lot, where when an officer is involved, they kind of like lowball it and like let it roll out through the court system with whatever they've got.
00:18:21
Speaker
Now, Yorkie says he regularly meet regularly meets with law enforcement, and he said he would bring the case up with them during a meeting after this article. Because it's dismissed without prejudice, this case could still be refiled.
00:18:34
Speaker
But it won't be. Right. Or as of now, I have not found evidence of like what's happening with this guy because there's so much going on in his current situation. I'm sure by the time we release this, there will be something that's come out about it.
00:18:49
Speaker
Now, there's a in this file they have that they've pulled together, this is the like the personnel file they've requested from Toledo, there's an internal affairs investigation, and that resulted in him being found guilty of conduct unbecoming an officer, willful violation willful violation, which they don't specify what that means, and they say he was found to be practicing habitual drunkenness.
00:19:21
Speaker
and Okay, so... Is that the medical diagnosis? or that's the That's the internal affairs verbiage. Okay. They probably don't have another way to write it up. yeah They're trying to be polite about it and sound kind of clinical.
00:19:36
Speaker
He's habitually drunk. um He makes a habit of drinking, obviously. So it says in the file there was an appeal hearing that was going to be scheduled before the police chief at the time for Toledo, a guy named George Crawl. That was going to be August 30th, 2022.
00:19:53
Speaker
But Michael Irvin submitted his resignation the following day. So they obtained more files through 11 investigators.
00:20:05
Speaker
And they came up with 155 pages, including interviews with Michael Irvin about the train incident.
00:20:13
Speaker
Okay, so then according to Lake Township police reports, multiple officers were called on August 23rd to a report of suspected intoxication involving Irvin.
00:20:28
Speaker
So, this is the the thing we're talking about. The officers come in, and they write that Michael Irvin's speech was slurred, his gait was unsteady, and his eyes appeared dilated.
00:20:40
Speaker
Several officers noted that ah Plus, I think there's a medic report in here, or maybe two, that that he smelled like alcohol. Medic said that his vital signs were normal, but they confirmed the odor of alcohol.
00:20:55
Speaker
And the reports state that this incident was captured on body camera. And there is body cam footage out there that you can watch. I will try to remember to put that in the show notes for people.
00:21:07
Speaker
So in these body cam recordings on the August call, call Irvin said he had a leg injury when officers said they observed him staggering when walking.
00:21:20
Speaker
So he ends up with charges in this appearance. He gets an initial court appearance in Perrysburg Municipal Court up in Ohio. He's charged with five misdemeanor counts. He gets assigned an attorney. He gets ah his next court appearance is going to be later in September.
00:21:35
Speaker
So after this incident, he's essentially fired. He is charged with, ah Criminal disorderly conduct obstructing official business, having a weapon while intoxicated, and operating a vehicle while intoxicated.
00:21:52
Speaker
So obviously the police chief puts out a statement. He says it's embarrassing. It puts a black eye on our department. We're thankful that no one got hurt and thankful to the residents who called in on this. We are taking this seriously. We terminated the officer right away. We value public trust and people are upset and rightfully so.
00:22:07
Speaker
They hold police officers to a higher standard, which they should. Now, 11 Investigates makes a note they were unable to reach Michael Irvin for this article. According to Police Chief, he said he was not aware of any issues that Irvin had while he was with Toledo Police Department.
00:22:26
Speaker
He said he had confidence in the background check that was conducted by the Walbridge police personnel the time. He said, i I trusted the due diligence put into the background check by Chief Ken Campbell and Sergeant Tom Roberts at the time. I had no reason to not support their request to hire Michael Irvin.
00:22:42
Speaker
I was unaware of the issues that were mentioned. As mayor, I have to trust the department heads in their respective positions and recommendations. This incident gives me pause and we will reevaluate our hiring processes.
00:22:55
Speaker
He later provided an additional comment by email. I inquired further about the items mentioned. It is my understanding the accident took place in another state, in Michigan. It was dismissed and his background check from Toledo did not mention habitual drunkenness. That's what I was told.
00:23:11
Speaker
ah During... 11 Investigation in February 2024, they found multiple cases where a new department did not know ah about a previous issue because of unions working to seal previous records. In one case, Delta had hired Robert Austin as its new police chief while not knowing he had resigned from Sylvania Township under investigation.
00:23:35
Speaker
Now, what 11 Investigates found out about Robert Austin, who's supposed to be the new police chief, was he was married to two women at the same time and is currently facing two felony counts, including illegally obtaining insurance benefits for the woman he married illegally. so I like we kind of diverted on that path, huh?
00:23:55
Speaker
Yeah. So Robert Austin, he's somebody that you can like go down a rabbit hole about. Michael Urban, obviously there's still more to him. Walbur's mayor, Ed Kalenko, has commented on him several different times in public.
00:24:08
Speaker
It's fascinating to me that this is not like bigger news than it is. But then at the same time, like there's probably forces working here to like, keep this kind of low key.
00:24:20
Speaker
Cause it's a series. Yeah. Yeah. I guess. I think it's terrible. Like showing up to a call drunk is no, it's unacceptable to me. I'm just saying as far as, uh,
00:24:34
Speaker
When everybody has something to hold against them, i guess they're prioritizing what's worse. Yeah. Yeah. I guess. That's probably true.
00:24:45
Speaker
And then, you know, when it comes out, I had no idea somebody else was supposed to do that. I trusted what they did. Yeah. Yeah. um So moving on from Michael Irvin to the next Don't Drink in Police segment.
Detective Ardett Coma's Arrest
00:25:02
Speaker
I thought this was going to be a drunk guy, and it turned out not to be. This is out of um Florida, Flagler County, Florida. It says a detective with the Flagler County Sheriff's Office was arrested on Thursday after Ormond Beach police said he was actively trying to flee from officials. So this is originally from Camille Serebia out of Fox 35, Orlando. It gets pushed over to Fox 13, Tampa Bay.
00:25:27
Speaker
and ah They have a detective there named Ardett Koma. There's body camera footage of this guy. um He is ultimately suspended without pay and has no current law enforcement authority.
00:25:41
Speaker
as of the writing of this article, and I think it's still true as of the publishing of this episode. So Detective Artic Coma is 28. He was arrested Thursday morning, December the 4th, for a traffic violation, which the Sheriff's Office defined as fleeing or attempting to flee or elude a law enforcement officer.
00:26:01
Speaker
So Coma was arrested in Ormond Beach by Ormond Beach Police. He was driving 88 miles per hour on North u US Highway 1 in Volusia County, according to an arrest ah affidavit they have. An officer initiated a traffic stop behind Coma at an intersection and activated his lights and siren.
00:26:18
Speaker
Coma continued north, failing to yield, and then accelerated around traffic. It was apparent the vehicle was actively attempting to flee, He was traveling at least 90 miles per hour at times, and he avoided the department's stop sticks as he passed another Ormond Beach officer.
00:26:37
Speaker
When officers conduct a felony stop on Coma, they observed what he was wearing, indicating he was law enforcement. Coma asked the officers what was going on, which they told him he was under arrest for fleeing and eluding, and Detective Coma said that he didn't know an officer was behind him trying to pull him over.
00:26:54
Speaker
I'm just going to go out on a limb here and say, now, Detective Koma is apparently sober, so I apologize for putting him in don't drink and police. But if you're a detective for a major county in Florida in the major case unit, which according to this, he joined the sheriff's office in June 2023. He's currently a major case unit.
00:27:14
Speaker
Detective, he was in an unmarked agency-issued vehicle. he was on his way into work when the incident occurred. he ends up suspended without pay. i think it's less about the speeding around the cops and more about the fact that like there are lights and sirens behind you, and the first words out of your mouth is, as a detective, you don't know you're being pulled over.
00:27:37
Speaker
And he really wasn't intoxicated. i was convinced he was going to be drunk, um which is why he makes it into the episode. But I think it would have been better if he was drunk. I think I would have understood if he was drunk.
00:27:51
Speaker
But I not. I think that actually makes it a little bit worse. It does. It does. Being a major case squad detective and also just not knowing that you're being pulled over by the police is ridiculous. he was a detective. He should have seen the clues.
00:28:06
Speaker
Absolutely. And like, I looked at it and I was just like, wow. You know, I tried to like wrap my head around it and i just couldn't come up with anything. Wow.
00:28:19
Speaker
And, like, so, you know, this is sort of the the point in the story where i will go ahead and tell you, there are a lot of officers being arrested in fall of 2025 for a variety of reasons.
00:28:31
Speaker
um This is the only one I'm including today where the guy wasn't pretty obviously drunk. um And I say that because the theme is don't drink and please. But I have to tell you that over in North Carolina, I read...
00:28:47
Speaker
Probably one of the most interesting things I've read about an officer who's technically not drinking and policing. Technically. He's off duty.
00:28:59
Speaker
But the description they have of what is happening with this guy is one of the most fascinating things I've read. And I only saw a little article on this.
00:29:09
Speaker
I did go look up the court records, and it's all kind of in process. i was shocked at this article by Diamond Carroll for WCNC Charlotte News.
Officer James Reagan's DWI Incident
00:29:21
Speaker
The headline is, Off-Duty Belmont Police Officer Arrested on DWI Charge at McDonald's Drive-Thru. Which is interesting. says the officer has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the criminal investigation.
00:29:36
Speaker
It's the first line of the article proper that allows this gentleman into don't drink and police. It says an off-duty Belmont police officer was arrested Friday morning on a driving while impaired charge after being found unconscious in his vehicle at a McDonald's drive-thru.
00:29:58
Speaker
Officers responded around 1230 a.m. to a report of an unconscious motorist at the McDonald's on North Main Street in Belmont, North Carolina. This, according to the police department.
00:30:08
Speaker
When they arrived, officers found James Reagan, an off-duty Belmont police officer, asleep in the driver's seat of his personal car. A field investigation determined that Reagan was impaired.
00:30:22
Speaker
He was arrested and charged with DWI. Now, this next line is going to give you a little sympathy for the for the guy. James Reagan has served as a school resource officer with the Belmont Police Department since September of 2014. Well, that explains all of it.
00:30:38
Speaker
Yep. ah Police Chief Boyce Falls called the arrest concerning in a statement. He said officers are expected to conduct themselves to a high standard on and off duty. When someone falls short of that, they will be held accountable.
00:30:49
Speaker
um Does that include lying to reporters about accountability? I don't know. um So James Reagan has been placed on administrative lead pending the outcome of the criminal investigation and an internal review by the department. He was released on a $5,000 bond. His court hearing is scheduled for February 3rd, 2026.
00:31:09
Speaker
twenty twenty six So I'll be following along with that one. I have to ask you, though. We have DoorDash, Uber Eats, all those things. um I mean, Amazon even. I think I saw on the Amazon Prime app, like, there's ways to get food from Amazon.
00:31:24
Speaker
um And I know that, like, there's different local delivery services everywhere people are. You don't have to go anywhere, ever. Right. So, and also, like, he's so he's a school resource officer.
00:31:37
Speaker
He could have been pulling off-duty work, I i suppose. um This is a time of year where, you know, unless I'm Missing the guess, most schools still get out at 3 o'clock, right? 3 or 4. Something like that, yeah. So this is after midnight.
00:31:53
Speaker
I'm sure like he has worked a full day or whatever. But this is like a Friday morning. So you know Thursday's over. We're now on Friday.
00:32:04
Speaker
And what do you have to do that you want to make rib so bad that you are passed out in your car? And the McDonald's drive-through, like, right after midnight. What is happening in your world that that is where you land?
00:32:22
Speaker
I don't know. And I think that that's sort of what makes it so bad. ah Not that I don't know, but that, like, I can imagine what it would take for that to be a thing, at least for me.
00:32:36
Speaker
Right. right i would I would be, like, under rock bottom. Right. all but All the things that would have to come crumbling down in my life for me to be unconscious in the McDonald's drive-thru.
00:32:53
Speaker
right They would definitely be signs that I certainly did not need to be in law enforcement. I did not need to be a school resource officer.
00:33:06
Speaker
i needed probably a vacation at that point. Right. Yeah, I mean, obviously he's been doing this for a long time. He's been doing this for 11 years, which I assume those 11 years just came to a close.
00:33:20
Speaker
Do you know? No, I don't know yet. Like, he's suspended pending what's going to happen, but it's not nothing's going to happen until February 2026. don't know how much, ah I mean, there could be a perfectly valid reason for this. And let me go ahead and say in the defense of some people who are charged with DWI, they are innocent until proven guilty. And sometimes something can appear to be a DWI when it is not. Medical incidents happen. Other things happen.
00:33:48
Speaker
That's what I would sort of expect instead of, like, drinking. Like, if he they take medicine or something and it affects them a way they weren't sure of, I don't think they should necessarily lose their job for that.
00:34:01
Speaker
But it's still a dangerous position and you're still responsible for your actions. oh I, I, yeah, I brought this up because it's wild imagery. And honestly, it's kind of clickbait. Like you've got a police officer, he's off duty. He's a school resource officer. He has passed out in a McDonald's drive-thru 1230 in the morning.
00:34:23
Speaker
That alone is fascinating to me. But I would retract what I'm saying about him being part of Don't Drink and Police because, he's one, he's off duty. And, two, like I know you said medication and like other things can cause it.
00:34:38
Speaker
Things that your body does, like including blood sugar and insulin production, can put you in a position where, Like, like if if this guy came back and said, look, I was just trying to get something with some sugar in it because I was about to have, like, a crash.
00:34:56
Speaker
Like, a sugar crash. i I still have questions about how you, like, choose McDonald's and that's the place that you end up passed out in, you know, your car. But ultimately...
00:35:09
Speaker
I would have a lot of sympathy for someone going through a medical emergency who happens to end up in a high-profile situation because of their job. Because, in my opinion, that is something beyond his control.
00:35:25
Speaker
It is. ah And if it were to be something like that, yeah, I would say that we would need to... No, that's why I'm saying it now. Yeah. like Because I haven't seen... like I did pull the court documents.
00:35:39
Speaker
And they're not... Well, there was at least probable cause for him to be charged with it. Correct. And he's been suspended without pay... ah With pay, I think. He's been suspended pending the investigation.
00:35:52
Speaker
So that's a thing. like that you know Investigations do have to occur. He he just has the unlucky circumstance of being an interesting headline in and the middle of a series of interesting headlines that I wanted to talk about because it's the time of year where, like...
00:36:07
Speaker
Like some awareness related to drinking and driving is kind of a big deal because we don't want people to, we don't want people to be harmed. We don't want people to pass away. All of the things that you can imagine.
00:36:23
Speaker
We don't want the police of the world to show up to a call and be drunk. Right? No, and they shouldn't. I don't. Drinking and driving, being unconscious in the driver's seat, you just shouldn't be doing that, whether you're a cop or not, especially if you are a law enforcement, you shouldn't be doing that.
00:36:45
Speaker
Correct. ah For the record, he did get a breath alcohol test. It was just at point one one So that alone is like interesting to me. i did pull like his core. How is that enough to make you unconscious, though?
00:36:59
Speaker
i I don't know the answer to that. um I will say that he has had criminal record checks pulled um where he has had multiple infractions. And by infractions, I mean speeding tickets, other traffic charges that have all been disposed of as insufficient evidence.
00:37:20
Speaker
um He had at least two charges related to having no insurance and having an expired registration. which is fascinating to me. They were all dismissed for various reasons. And a lot of those infractions are dismissed because you take the time and the care to like fix it. And it was not something that was like a normal problem for you. like You didn't normally run around with no insurance. I did notice that on the...
00:37:52
Speaker
the Warren, they stated that like he unlawfully and willfully drove a vehicle into the McDonald's parking lot a while subject to an impairing substance, and they left his the name of the defendant's employer blank. Really? As a courtesy, I suppose. No, that's not courteous.
00:38:12
Speaker
That irritates me. Well, i'm just I'm just letting you know. And something that I find really interesting is a lot of people... I don't think they realize the ah public record nature of law enforcement, right? Right. Yeah. um it You are on display. Correct. As a public employee. And I'm not saying it as a personal thing, but the cops doing things as courtesy to other police officers, when there's...
00:38:51
Speaker
like it's I think the.11 is tangible evidence that requires them to expose it.
00:39:02
Speaker
Yeah. And when they do eat each other favors like that, I really don't like that. Yeah, and I looked up Belmont. And so it's a Belmont officer pulling over another Belmont officer. The likelihood he didn't know that he's a Belmont officer is pretty low.
00:39:20
Speaker
So I found it interesting that they left the defendant's employer blank. Right. And they shouldn't have. And i I would be, i feel like that is a problem.
00:39:32
Speaker
it is. and it Because it's a form of corruption. It's covering for another officer. And while you might think you're doing them some good, you're not. i would forgive somebody who has said, like, I had a substance abuse problem and i took care of it. I shouldn't have been doing that. But to hide it, that doesn't help anybody.
00:39:54
Speaker
no it does not. um So I don't have anything else about this guy. I have a ah couple more that are really don't drink in police ah stories.
00:40:06
Speaker
ah The next one's out of NBC News 10. I actually pulled the WBIR version of it. um This was written by their staff and put out on the wire.
00:40:19
Speaker
It is a little more like kind of what I was thinking. um It says, ah according to the GPD, which in this instance is Gatlinburg,
00:40:30
Speaker
Police Department. It says, a Mississippi Sergeant Arrested for Drunk Driving with Moonshine Pickles and Gun in City-Owned Car. I don't know how like you beat that headline. I thought the McDonald's headline was going to be the one.
00:40:48
Speaker
But this isn't even like the best one. This is just the next one. um Here's the byline on this. It says, in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, a Mississippi police sergeant was arrested after Gatlinburg police said he drove drunk with his emergency lights flashing, a gun in his console, and an open container of alcohol, including moonshine pickles.
00:41:10
Speaker
Now, I have never had moonshine pickles. I can only imagine they're delicious, but maybe not the best road snack.
00:41:19
Speaker
Joseph James Prine Jr., a sergeant with the Gulfport Police Department, was charged with driving under the influence, unlawful possession of a firearm while intoxicated, and having an open container of alcohol, according to a Gatlinburg Police Department incident report and, of course, body cam footage.
00:41:42
Speaker
Around 9 p.m. on December the 2nd, Prine was driving a black Ford Explorer with a passenger using blue emergency lights and a siren. Police said that Prine was passing cars that were yielding to him, briefly drove on the wrong side of the road, switched off his lights as he passed the Gatlinburg officer, prompting officers to pull him over.
00:42:05
Speaker
The car was poorly parked and its Mississippi license plate had no registration on file. Officers said the vehicle smelled of alcohol. Prine's speech was slurred and two open beer cans were inside the vehicle. When asked, Prine admitted to drinking, telling the officers first that he had had two Michelob Ultras at Jason Aldean's bar.
00:42:27
Speaker
Later, he said maybe it was three or four. He said he and his passenger had turned on the emergency lights because they were just hitting all the lights. Body camera footage shows the officer questioning why open alcohol was in an agency-owned vehicle.
00:42:42
Speaker
At one point, the officer notes the beer cans felt cold, while Prine argued they were from the previous day and still just cold because of the weather. Prine told officers the Explorer belonged to the City of Gulfport Police Department. The Venn traced back to a 2015 Ford Explorer, but no owner or agency was listed.
00:43:00
Speaker
When Prine stepped out of the car, he told officers there was a gun in the center console and a knife in his pocket. Officers found the firearm during a search, along with an open Michelob Ultra, so maybe he's not completely lying about having three or four, and an open jar of moonshine pickles.
00:43:18
Speaker
Body cam video later shows an officer removing the jar, noting the seal has been broken. Body cam footage also shows Prine's passenger being detained. At first, officers handcuffed him on a citation for disturbing the peace.
00:43:32
Speaker
Officers told the man he was ultimately taken to jail for his own safety after after he also admitted he would be unable to drive. After failing some slash all parts of a field sobriety test, Prine was arrested. Prine was asked if he'd consent to a breathalyzer, to which he said no.
00:43:51
Speaker
However, Gatlinburg officer told Prine about Tennessee's implied consent law, which means that if a breathalyzer is refused, the driver's license gets suspended for a year and they face an additional charge.
00:44:05
Speaker
Prine later allowed a blood sample and was taken to the county jail. Gulfport Police Chief Adam Cooper said that Prine was on personal leave as his department conducted an internal investigation after the incident,
00:44:20
Speaker
The full statement reads, on the evening of december second two thousand and twenty five the gatlinmberg tennessee police department conducted a traffic stop of an unmarked city-owned vehicle being operated by josephryne who was a gulfport police officer attending out-of-sate training but who was off duty at the time gatlemberg police initiated a sobriety investigation and subsequently charged primene with the misdemeanor offenses of driving while under the influence possession of an open container and having a firearm in the vehicle while intoxicated At this time, Prine's on personal leave, and the Gulfport Police Department is conducting an internal investigation. And I can't wait to hear what the outcome of that investigation is going to be. Also, like, sending people in state cars to training and not having a rule that you do not drink in the state cars is ridiculous.
00:45:12
Speaker
Why would you need that rule? Yeah. Because people need to know you don't do that. You're not even like this. But shouldn't they know you don't do that? As someone who drives a state car, you're not even allowed to go through the drive-thru at McDonald's and pass out.
00:45:32
Speaker
Okay, but that's like sense. Like our boss is constantly telling us, you do not take these cars through drive-thrus. They go from here to here. like Like so many times, like even if you're out of town, you have so many rules that you sign up. Like we sign a form.
00:45:48
Speaker
Like, so we give them our license, they check our insurance, they do a driving background on us, and like we have to sign a form stating that like we understand what it means to drive this car and what insurance will do if we break these rules.
00:46:03
Speaker
And like the first step is you you're no longer allowed to drive those cars.
00:46:09
Speaker
No, I hear you. I'm just saying i can see why it might have been overlooked. Because they might have thought, why on earth would we have to put these very obvious? You mean from the perspective like this is to be obvious?
00:46:23
Speaker
Exactly. That's what i'm saying. Like, I can see where they thought it would be redundant to make rules of common sense. Yeah. ah You know, i you would think that.
00:46:37
Speaker
And all this talk about higher standards, at least he didn't say that in this. here I mean, because clearly we've let this guy wander out of state with an unmarked and basically unregistered state vehicle.
00:46:50
Speaker
Indeed. I mean, whatever's happening here, they have, they have some stuff to clean up in their department down in Gulfport. Kudos on Gatlinburg for like, you know, just bringing them on in instead of letting him flash a badge and, you know, wiggle his emergency lights and light them off.
00:47:09
Speaker
Riding around with the lights and sirens on. So technically, like, is this drinking and policing? Yes, because when you're out, like, at training, you're getting paid, so you should behave yourself.
00:47:24
Speaker
Even if you go to Jason Aldean's bar in Gatlinburg and drink a lot. Right, but see... I think that one of the things that it might be a little bit smothering to someone in the position of being a law enforcement officer is like, you're actually supposed to behave all the time.
00:47:43
Speaker
Yeah. Like, even if you're not at work, you still can't do illegal things. Right. You can't have your moonshine pickles. Right. Right.
00:47:55
Speaker
And we also, where is it that you stopped to get these moonshine pickles? I'm asking made them from the perspective of science. I think that in the event you can't give up your moonshine pickles, that ah you might want to consider a different career. That's all.
00:48:12
Speaker
Yeah, I think that this is a lot. I mean, i look at different things and kind of go, all right. They probably shouldn't let him out of town in a state vehicle. They definitely should not let him out of town in a way that, like, he's taking a vehicle and then drinking in the vehicle. And also, to get through traffic, he decides, well, I'm going to just run along here and turn my lights and sirens on to get around it.
00:48:48
Speaker
I don't know. Like, this is a very strange situation for me. But, like, this guy clearly is, like, kind of missing the boat. He 100% messed up. Yes. Yeah.
00:49:00
Speaker
So I don't have a lot more on this guy, on Mr. Prine here. Sergeant Prine. Former Sergeant Prine. Potentially future former Sergeant Prine. I don't know what you call him at this point. He's under investigation by the Gulfport.
00:49:12
Speaker
Mississippi police who are apparently investigating a drunk driving incident by one of their own officers in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, many miles of away. Yep. um i'm I'm sure that I'm sure it's going to go great.
00:49:24
Speaker
Um, the last story that I have for today in terms of don't drink and police is one. I never thought like I would like even have to like read half of this.
00:49:37
Speaker
Um, so We've talked at length and ad nauseum about the Columbine High School massacre back in 1999. Right? Just one time, yes.
00:49:49
Speaker
Well, right, right. But I'm saying like... We covered it. Yeah, we covered And that was it. And we moved on, yeah. So about 30 minutes away from there is a place called Evergreen. You ever heard of Evergreen, Colorado?
00:50:02
Speaker
ah Not before we were talking about this. Right, yeah. so this is a Jefferson County, Colorado, unincorporated community. you know It is interesting for a couple of reasons.
00:50:15
Speaker
The main reason we're talking about it today is the shooting of Charlie Kirk took place September 10, 2025.
Evergreen High School Shooting and Aftermath
00:50:27
Speaker
And same day that his shooting took place, ah there was a shooting that's completely overshadowed by Charlie Kirk's shooting.
00:50:42
Speaker
And Charlie Kirk was shot to death in Utah. Right. So Charlie Kirk was shot to death in Orem, Utah. ah that It's a whole thing. he was speaking at a Turning Point USA debate event at Utah Valley University.
00:50:56
Speaker
he was shot and killed. um It was considered a political assassination. It drew international attention and a lot of condemnation of political violence, and it sparked a lot of debate over guns and ah vitriol and political speech.
00:51:12
Speaker
um He was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. um but we'd take no position on what happened to Charlie Kirk. It was ah you know a tragic loss of life, and that's the end of it.
00:51:25
Speaker
Right, and this happened the same day. Yeah, so yeah this happened ah not just the same day, but four minutes after Charlie Kirk was shot. And it is buried.
00:51:35
Speaker
Like, no one realized that this had happened. So this is September 10th, 2025. A 16-year-old named Desmond Hawley, who's a student at a high school in Evergreen, Colorado, called Evergreen High School, which is in Jefferson County, Colorado.
00:51:51
Speaker
He arrives on the school premises with a revolver, And he opens fire with this revolver inside and outside the school. Desmond Holly shot and wounded two students.
00:52:02
Speaker
No one was killed. But the school was able to be locked down, which why you would do this 30 minutes away from where Columbine happened 26 years ago is wild to me.
00:52:13
Speaker
But the school was essentially, the security doors made it impossible for this kid to leave. So when he realized he was trapped, essentially, he committed suicide.
00:52:26
Speaker
So authorities start investigating this incident, and they say that like Desmond Hawley had been, but as a younger teenager, in these digital extremist spaces, and that he had expressed some neo-Nazi views online, and that he had essentially been radicalized.
00:52:43
Speaker
Now, they said he had a fascination and ah a potential obsession with Natalie Rupno, who is the perpetrator from December of 2024 of the Abundant Life ah Christian school shooting.
00:52:56
Speaker
Prior to the attack, ah Desmond Holley had posted some video of himself online in the poses that Natalie Rupno's social media showed. He had videos of him ah creating a shirt that was similar to one of the Columbine shootr shooters. And he like you could see him wearing it on his TikTok.
00:53:16
Speaker
um One of the victims has been identified publicly. the other one is not. but Colorado Senator Michael Bennett, he put out a statement saying he was horrified about what had happened. And he thanked law enforcement officers for their swift response.
00:53:30
Speaker
And then this thing vanished, except for local news. There's really no record of it. um Except if you go looking at like different things that were done locally.
00:53:44
Speaker
And that is a lot of what I call back padding was done by local law enforcement. I never understand this. It's like, this guy did a job, we're giving him an award.
00:53:55
Speaker
It makes everything so much worse sometimes. It does. And, like, you know, it it it makes it ridiculous. um Obviously, when something like this happens and you have a school shooter, even though this guy's trapped and he ultimately...
00:54:11
Speaker
ends his own life when he realizes he's trapped, the it causes a SWAT response, basically. like You end up with emergency services and like hostage rescue teams i swooping in you save the day.
00:54:24
Speaker
um and sometimes like mistakes are made and accusations are made. ah This has one of the worst don't drink in police stories that I think I've ever read, and even though ultimately There's only one casualty in this situation, which is the perpetrator himself, and there's two injuries.
00:54:45
Speaker
um We swap over and look at ABC Denver. They cover this story. they Specifically, Oscar Contreras writes an article. and I don't know which version i pulled, but sometime between...
00:55:00
Speaker
the evening news on December 4th, 2025, and like the five o'clock news on December 5th, 2025, there were several videos um posted. There were some court documents posted. and I grabbed like kind of all of it. So I don't know specifically which article we're reading from. It it appears to be like the later version when he kind of like cleans it up a little bit.
00:55:20
Speaker
But this article says Jefferson County SWAT sergeant was drunk during Evergreen High School shooting response, according to documents. And then it says, Sergeant Anthony Hamilton was placed on administrative leave pending an...
00:55:35
Speaker
international investigation, which I think they meant to say internal. internal yeah But they did say international, which is one of the things that didn't get cleaned up when they chat GPT'd this article.
00:55:47
Speaker
He later resigned to avoid being fired. These are according according to documents obtained by Denver 7 here. A Jefferson County SWAT sergeant admitted to drinking the better part of a 12-pack of beer hours before responding to the shooting at Evergreen High School.
00:56:03
Speaker
Going back to that, Just to throw this out, this is during school hours. okay This is the middle of the day. Internal affairs investigation into SWAT team leader Sergeant Anthony Hamilton began about two weeks after the September 10, 2025 shooting that left two students injured at the school before the shooter turned the gun on himself.
00:56:25
Speaker
Nearly half a dozen law enforcement officers came forward to report that they suspected Anthony Hamilton was intoxicated the day of the shooting, violating the agency's alcohol policy. The documents obtained by Denver 7 through Colorado's open record law show that Hamilton initially denied the allegations brought against them before admitting he'd been drinking the night before the shooting and about four hours before the events had unfolded at the high school that day.
00:56:49
Speaker
So basically, this guy was drinking the night before and apparently was drinking the next morning, and other officers broke the thin blue line to tell on him which is nearly half a dozen yeah nearly half a dozen so either they really don't like this guy for some other reason they're all jockeying to be the sergeant of the SWAT team or that thin blue line maybe is becoming thinner well uh i could see like a lot of different reasons to come forward about that it was so bad that they felt like
00:57:27
Speaker
If they didn't, they could possibly be stuck in a position where it was obvious they didn't do what they should have done. right And the other thing would be they were perhaps ah they had abstained as required for being. I don't know how that works, being on call for SWAT or whatever. They abstained from alcohol and they didn't feel like it was fair that he didn't.
00:57:54
Speaker
Yeah, that could be true. like we're where we are and When I'm on call, I'm warned not to like drink or take intoxicating substances during that time period. Right. And so it could be something to that effect because that would obviously be a pain in just about anybody's butt because look you're on call.
00:58:15
Speaker
Well, you're on call, and then, you know, a lot of times when you're on call, nothing happens, right? Right, correct. And so you abstained, and you got to go back to work, and you didn't get to party. or what I don't really know. I'm just trying to kind of walk through why they may have done it. I think it was probably very obvious, and they don't they didn't, the individual officers didn't want to be seen as oblivious or complicit, right? Right.
00:58:40
Speaker
Right. So this article goes on to say that interviews with police officers from Arvada and Golden Police Department. So this is a multi-agency response that's happening. as well as deputies with the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, they revealed that Hamilton was likely trying to cover up the smell of alcohol with coffee the day of the shooting. Several officers noted the former sergeant had bloodshot, watery eyes that he tried to hide with sunglasses while inside the school.
00:59:06
Speaker
As SWAT team members went floor by floor clearing rooms, they described him as quiet, distant, and acting out of the norm. One officer described him as kind of, quote, checked out, end quote.
00:59:20
Speaker
Hamilton's behavior that day raised red flags from one of his commanders, who was surprised to see him responding to the call the day of the shooting, since Hamilton had previously requested to take a few days off to deal with family issues.
00:59:33
Speaker
Which is even stranger. You don't really have to be there, but you don't want to miss the action, i guess? I think that's exactly what it was. So later that day, another commander would report that Hamilton was leading a SWAT element to search areas of school of the school that were not their responsibility.
00:59:49
Speaker
And they found it out of the ordinary how Hamilton was ordering them to randomly clear rooms inside the school. Other law enforcement officers would come forward that day to report they had gotten a whiff of alcohol coming from Hamilton during the response to the shooting at Evergreen High School.
01:00:06
Speaker
During a meeting with SWAT leadership on September 17th, so a week later, Hamilton admits that he started drinking the night before. He didn't go to bed until about two or three in the morning. He also admitted he started drinking the day of the shooting pretty much right away after waking up about 8 a.m.
01:00:20
Speaker
So he's off. He's having a day off. Maybe it's a hair of the dog situation where hair of the dog is when, and I know people know this, I'm just stating it. So it's, the direction I go makes sense.
01:00:31
Speaker
Hair of the dog is when you've had enough that you've got a headache and potential signs of being hungover. you drink a little bit, not a lot, and your body responds to that and it lets it process out the rest of the alcohol. That's the concept of hair of the dog, whether it works that way or not depends on the person.
01:00:50
Speaker
So he gets up, he's got a day off, he's drinking. He said he drank the better part of a 12 pack, maybe nine 10 hours. The morning of the incident.
01:01:03
Speaker
I don't know what's happening in this guy's personal life, but if between 8 and noon you drink 10 beers, even on your day off, don't think I do that. i'm trying to think.
01:01:14
Speaker
When I go to the beach, like someday, like there's usually like one day I'm not responsible for the dogs or the children that are around. So like that is the day if I'm going to drink some beers. But that's usually, I usually start at like lunch and I'm like, I have a little day drinking. and honestly, I think it's four beers like all day.
01:01:31
Speaker
So I can't imagine nine or 10 beers in the morning. Yeah, I mean, so it did come up just really briefly earlier that he had taken time off for family problems. So this may not be his normal behavior, right? No, definitely, definitely. This could be totally out of his element, and that could make it worse that people notice it. the opposite could be true.
01:01:59
Speaker
Well, and see, I don't know in the event, this is out of his element. He drank a lot the night before he basically started drinking as soon as he got up. ah If there's family, depending on what is going on in his personal life, you know, drinking is a way to avoid things that are making you depressed, but it further depresses you, right? And unfortunately, if this was an out of...
01:02:27
Speaker
character well it was out of character but it was also like weird that this particular thing happened i don't think this kind of thing happens very normal uh very on a regular basis right here at that school in this county you know they don't have school shootings right well this is 30 minutes for columbine i'm just saying well but he may not have been in the state to make the decision that his days off still applied ah that's true well he says he So he admits that drinking the better part of a 12-pack, and then he says he stopped drinking about 11 a.m. that day.
01:03:02
Speaker
And this is about an hour and 20 minutes before calls began to flood 911 dispatch. The internal affairs document also shows that Hamilton admitted to likely being intoxicated when he drove a take-home vehicle to the school while armed with a sidearm, handgun, and department-issued rifle and wearing his SWAT green uniform.
01:03:23
Speaker
He said the fact that a school shooting was taking place likely drove his decision to respond that day, even though he was off duty and under the influence. He's quoted as saying he knew his team would need help.
01:03:36
Speaker
He says. and that's a savior complex, right? Where they can't do the job without him or whatever. Right. ah And also, you know, let's be honest, he's going to miss out on the action.
01:03:48
Speaker
Well, that's what that is, because they absolutely will do the job just fine without him. and and He should have just stayed home and passed out. yeah but he probably would have regretted that, too. But he says here the the decisions – he says that this was the wrong decision, thinking his team was going to need his help. And he said that was the reason why i regret few things in my life more than this.
01:04:10
Speaker
In a statement, a spokesperson for the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office said that Hamilton resigned in the lieu of termination after the conclusion of the internal affairs investigation. So basically, internal affairs concluded he was no longer fit to be an officer.
01:04:22
Speaker
and He was about to be booted. He decided, I'm going to resign. and They probably gave him this choice as a courtesy. The Evergreen High School shooting was a tragic event for our community.
01:04:34
Speaker
We are proud of the professionalism and dedication shown by the deputies and partner agencies who responded that day. Their work helped bring us swift end into the threat. Again. Back patting. The guy harmed himself.
01:04:48
Speaker
um Their work helped bring a swift end to the threat and ensure the safety of students, staff, and families. During the aftermath of the incident, our agency learned that a sergeant on the SWAT team who responded to the scene while off-duty was under the influence of alcohol. This conduct falls far outside the standards and expectations of the sheriff's office. The s chargeant the sergeant was placed on leave. An internal investigation was conducted. That process has since concluded. that process has since concluded And the deputy resigned in the determination. The sheriff's office remained committed to transparency, integrity, and the safety of the communities we serve.
01:05:23
Speaker
So that's the statement that they put out related to this. I'm i'm just going to throw this out there.
01:05:31
Speaker
Show me a guy that brings a gun to a DWI arrest, meaning he's the arrestee, who is allowed to walk away from the scene rather than face the repercussions of his actions.
01:05:46
Speaker
And I will believe that something like this should be allowed to happen.
Conclusion and Holiday Safety Reminder
01:05:49
Speaker
But showing up armed to a high school during a school shooting response, intoxicated an agency vehicle,
01:06:00
Speaker
With a rifle and a handgun, in my mind, this is a huge element of hypocrisy here. Not to mention, he was leading his team who were, i guess, aware that he was intoxicated.
01:06:17
Speaker
did he get in his vehicle and drive back off? like I'm sure he did. There's a lot of stuff there that is in fact and you know i I do like that he said, i I regret few things more than my decision to do what I did right? I like that he said that, but that's also exactly what you should say. So I'd like to think that...
01:06:40
Speaker
hit the better course of action would have been if he had known this was going to happen, which is impossible, he wouldn't have been drinking to in order so he could respond, right? Well, the the better course of action here is trust in the fact that there's a lot of other employees in your department that do similar jobs to what you do, and they do not need you there drunk.
01:06:59
Speaker
No, yeah, exactly. And that is, ah it's a really unfortunate situation. And, ah you know, the school shooter... committed suicide after injuring two people, I believe. Correct. And then it was that it ended, right? Yeah. and we don't know anything about any of it because none of it was ah covered because of ah Charlie Kirk's assassination, right?
01:07:28
Speaker
Because he was killed, it was the news. This was very far on the back. ah I don't even know that it got any coverage at all. It did not. Not really. It got some local, like, I would say regional coverage.
01:07:43
Speaker
Right. And so it can be a lesson for everybody, all the law enforcement officers. ah I don't want to pass judgment too harshly on somebody who's having personal problems and drinking on their day off.
01:07:59
Speaker
But I would say just from like a friendly perspective, it's never good to be drinking that much that early.
01:08:09
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, it's not. Um, I, I have read some other stuff about Anthony Hamilton over the years. His name has popped up in other documents, pretty benign stuff. Um, he is in, ah some ACLU documents, which typically it's not great if you show up in there. largely he showed up as defended in a lawsuit related to the riots in Colorado.
01:08:36
Speaker
um He was accused of pretty open and overt racism, along with a handful of other officers. There's a lot going on there that like potentially could ah one way or another.
01:08:52
Speaker
have affected his career. That is, i believe, still ongoing to some degree. Some of it was dismissed, but I believe he's still a part of it. um He's certainly listed among the parties as being like one of the problematic people in that particular lawsuit. So I'm sure that carries over how he views the world maybe a little bit.
01:09:20
Speaker
It's possible. I mean, I feel like this particular situation, just to be clear, no law enforcement officer should ever be acting officially, no matter what the problem is. Right.
01:09:35
Speaker
School shooting or not. um Intoxicated. just shouldn't happen. Yeah, i don't I don't have anything else on this. I just hope that um if you're listening to this at probably New Year's Eve, then maybe don't drink and police tonight.
01:09:52
Speaker
And if you're not having to police, you do what you want. Maybe don't drink and drive, though. Right, and like Uber and Lyft and whatever else is out there, they will get you anywhere you need to go.
01:10:04
Speaker
yep
01:10:07
Speaker
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01:11:21
Speaker
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