By Allison Geller, Mon, January
27, 2014
Two Tennessee police officers
have been called out for going easy on a fellow officer who was driving under
the influence— who also happened to be a trained DUI expert.
Brent Rose has been working for
the Franklin Police Department since 2001, arresting drunk drivers and even
participating in a 2009 anti-DUI commercial for the Governor’s Highway Safety
Office.
But on Nov. 3, Rose was found
passed out behind the wheel of his car near a bar after drinking a few too many
Jack and Coke’s at the Losers Bar and Grille. He says he doesn’t even remember
what happened at the second bar. There was a 32-ounce tumbler of alcohol in the
cup holder, and the car's motor was running.
Franklin Police Sgt. J.P.
Taylor and Officer Megan Valentin discovered the drunk DUI cop— but instead of
arresting him, they let Rose call a friend to drive him home.
“Do what you got to do. This is
going to screw me for testing,” Rose reportedly said.
The officers weren’t sure about
their decision to let Rose go. In the investigation that followed, Franklin
calling him a “hypocrite,” while Valentin said, “If this were any other
citizen, they would have been arrested.”
Police Chief David Rahinsky
said that Rose “didn’t leave this episode unscathed.” Once the department got
wind of the incident they began an internal investigation.
“I certainly would be
hard-pressed to argue with the perception that Officer Rose was given
preferential treatment based on his employment,” Rahinsky admitted.
In his eight years with the
police force, this isn’t the first time that Rose has been caught drunk behind
the wheel. In 2005, he was given six months probation and ordered to complete
an alcohol treatment program when he damaged his car in an off-duty,
alcohol-related accident. Rose didn’t report to the incident to the police, as
the law requires.
For now, Rose has lost his
position as a DUI officer and has been suspended without pay, but he has not
been fired. He will have to undergo regular drug and alcohol testing and
counseling.
"I lost my brother to
alcohol several years ago and there was some unresolved issues dealing with
him," Rose said of his behavior.
