A DUI outrage in Columbus, Ohio narrowly averted:

A highway patrolman who crashed into a pickup last month, killing himself and two others, had not been drinking even though an autopsy showed alcohol in his system, officials said Tuesday.

An analysis conducted by the Federal Aviation Administration on trooper Joshua Risner found he did not drink any alcohol at least 16 hours before his death, the State Highway Patrol said in a statement.

The finding contradicts an earlier post-crash autopsy that found Risner’s blood-alcohol level was 0.08 percent, the level at which a person is considered drunk under Ohio law.

“This test tells us that alcohol got into his system post-mortem, after death,” patrol Col. Paul McClellan said…

Link via Lawrence Taylor, who adds:

Try selling that if the guy hadn’t been a cop. (Coincidentally, I would guess this “investigation” protects the government from liability for the two deaths caused by the on-duty officer.)

Justice Scalia’s “new professionalism” apparently extends even into the afterlife.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 1st, 2006 at 9:50 pm by Radley Balko and is filed under Police Professionalism, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.