Deputy, Fire Chief Charged with DUIs

A California police officer faces a DUI charge after being arrested when he stopped to assist fellow officers at a traffic accident.

Jessie Alvarez, a Kern County sheriff's deputy, was allegedly off-duty when he stopped at the accident last week in Buttonwillow, California, the Associated Press reports. According to a California Highway Patrol representative, an officer on the scene suspected that Alvarez was under the influence of alcohol when he stopped.

California Highway Patrol Officer Maria Pagano told the news source that upon breathalyzer testing, the 30-year-old deputy recorded a blood-alcohol level above California's legal driving limit of .08 percent. He was subsequently released on suspicion of misdemeanor drunk driving.

The sheriff of Alvarez' department, Donny Youngblood, said that the deputy is under an administrative investigation.

On the same day the deputy was charged, a fire chief in Illinois was indicted for a DUI after he crashed a municipal vehicle into a concrete pole. Chief Roger Thornton was released on $100 bond after being arrested by Cahokia police.

Research by Mothers Against Drunk Driving estimates that one arrest for DUI is made for every 88 episodes of driving with a blood-alcohol concentration that is over the U.S. legal limit.