Cop Fired For Speeding 143 MPH While Drunk Gets Job Back

  Posted by Alexander Higgins - May 23, 2012 at 10:51 pm - Permalink - Source via Alexander Higgins Blog

http://blog.alexanderhiggins.com/2012/05/23/cop-fired-speeding-143-...

A Denver Police officer, who previously pointed his gun on a McDonald’s for working to slow, gets his job back after caught speeding 143 MPH while drunk.

In 2009, Derrick Curtis Saunders of the Denver police was given only a minor category D reprimand after he pulled his gun on a McDonald’s worker while going through the drive thru because his food was taking too long.

Police: Denver Officer Pulls Weapon Over Slow Service

AURORA, Colo. — A Denver police officer assigned to Denver International Airport was on administrative leave Tuesday after employees at an Aurora McDonald’s said he pulled a gun on them when his order wasn’t filled fast enough.

The incident was reported in May, when Derrick Curtis Saunders, 29, ordered food at the restaurant at 18181 E. Hampden Ave.

According to employees, Saunders was with another police officer in the drive-through line when Saunders became impatient and drew his weapon on them.

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Source: ABC News

Initially the Saunders was charged with charged with menacing, prohibited use of a weapon, reckless endangerment and disorderly conduct.

Saunders denied the claims of several McDonald’s employees that he had pulled his gun.

Not surprisingly he was cleared of felony charges but still ended up with a category D infraction on his record.

Less than a year later Saunders was in trouble again.

This time a State Trooper pulled him over for speeding 143 MPH while drunk after downing ’5 or 6 vodka drinks’ at a local bar while watching the NBA finals.

Saunders failed the breathalyzer test, plead guilty to the charges and served 5 days in jail.

Saunders was also fired over the incident but fought the decision to fire him on the grounds the punishment was excessive.

Today, ABC news reports that the decision to fire him was overturned and he will be getting his job back.

The Civil Service Commission, which overturned the decision, ruled that speeding excessively while drunk was not evidence of  ‘willful and wanton’ and ‘egregious misconduct’.

They found that that speeding 88 mph over the speed limit should not be treated any different from speeding more than 20 miles per hour over the limit.

Even though the ‘excessive speed was unheard of’ did not mean it could be treated as an aggravating factor, the commission ruled.

The commission also found it was improper to charge Saunders  for ‘multiple violations that are simply alternate theories used to describe the same conduct’  and thus  finding the ‘instance of reckless driving or excessive speeding’ as  ‘the same aggravator’ as driving while intoxication.

Since it is only ‘one violation if an officer is DWAI or DUI and drives recklessly or with excessive speed’ the firing of the officer was inappropriate the commission ruled while stating neither a DUI, reckless driving, or speeding merited the firing of an officer in the past.

Meanwhile civilians are often charged with multiple offense for a single incident.

Cop Fired For Speeding 143 MPH While Drunk Gets Job Back

DENVER — The Civil Service Commission has overturned a decision to fire a Denver cop who admitted to speeding while intoxicated.

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Officer Derrick Saunders was sentenced to five days in jail after pleading guilty to charges he was drunk and driving 143 mph in a 55 mph zone on June 17, 2010.

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The manager of safety fired Saunders last December. Saunders appealed, arguing his termination was unfair and excessive.

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Now a panel of hearing officers is saying the drinking and speeding didn’t warrant termination, which the manager of safety disagrees with.

Manager of Safety Alex Martinez said the decision to overturn Saunders’ dismissal “deprives the manager of the authority to impose reasonable discipline and disrespects the efforts of the many honorable law-abiding Denver police officers to maintain high standards of professionalism.”

“We would never hire someone as a law enforcement officer who had engaged in this behavior and should not be required by hearing officers to continue to employ someone as an officer with this proven criminal conduct, ” Martinez added.

Saunders’ termination was overruled based on “discretion and precedence.”The Civil Service Commission said the Denver manager of safety “failed to prove any extraordinary aggravation” and “also failed to consider (Saunders’) mitigating factors.”

“Moreover, the disciplinary action of termination far exceeds the discipline given to other officers in comparative or greater misconduct cases,” the commission argued.

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In firing Saunders, Martinez wrote the June incident showed “a serious lack of character” related to being a police officer and “a willful and wanton disregard” for police department values.

“The extraordinary high speed alone is stunning.

The fact that you drove at this dangerous speed while your ability to drive was impaired by alcohol is shocking. In addition, you were driving at night and with a passenger in the car,” Martinez wrote when he terminated Saunders.

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Source: ABC News

More Information:

• Read Civil Service Commission’s decision to overturn firing of Derrick S...
• Read Derrick Curtis Saunders’ petition for appeal.