Posted on 06/29/2008 9:22:53 AM PDT by devane617
SAN JUAN -- A Mission police officer has been suspended indefinitely after a Saturday morning arrest for allegedly driving an unmarked police car while drunk, officials said.
This is at least the third arrest on suspicion of driving while intoxicated for Officer Martin Flores Villarreal, 40, of Mission, and at least his second while driving an unmarked Mission police car, according to court records and Trooper Johnny Hernandez, a local spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety.
The first two charges, in 2004 and 2006, were both dismissed, court records indicate.
Villarreal is suspended from the department indefinitely and without pay following his latest arrest, said Lt. Martin Garza, a Mission police spokesman. The accused officer has the right to appeal the suspension.
State troopers arrested Villarreal about 2:30 a.m. Saturday along the eastbound frontage road of Expressway 83 near the intersection with Raul Longoria Road, according to Hernandez.
Villarreal apparently was stopped on suspicion of a traffic violation, which Hernandez refused to detail. The Mission police officer failed a field sobriety test and was taken to the Hidalgo County Sheriff's Office, where a breath test indicated his blood alcohol concentration was twice the legal limit, Hernandez said.
Under Texas law, any driver with a BAC of 0.08 percent or higher is considered intoxicated.
Three other passengers in the car -- two women and another Mission police officer -- did not appear to be intoxicated and were not detained, Hernandez said.
Villarreal, who was arraigned at the sheriff's office on a charge of driving while intoxicated, posted the state-mandated $502 bond and was released sometime Saturday morning, according to the sheriff's office.
Mission police Chief Leo Longoria could not be reached for comment.
This was at least the second time this year an officer with a local law enforcement agency was arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated.
Hidalgo County Sheriff's Deputy Sergio Salaiz De Hoyos, 36, was arrested in mid-February in Donna. He resigned after Sheriff Lupe Treviño suspended him with pay. His case is pending in Hidalgo County Court-at-law No. 4
De Hoyos had at least one prior DWI arrest in 1990. Court records indicate he was convicted and completed a DWI education program.
Time to have ignition lock breath devices on cop cars .
Oh, there’s many comments, but if you do the jackboot lickers will scream, “you don’t understand the stress he’s under, you don’t know all the facts, maybe he was set up and drugged by some cop hater” or some other BS to cover the fact he’s just one more piece of trash hiding behind a badge.
Some times you just get chaff no matter how hard you try to winnow the wheat.
2 prior DWI’s and charges dismissed? Where do I sign up for that treatment?
I wish the local cops i see chugging down Scotch and waters all the time at my local bar would get pulled over once in a while...
He was putting his life on the line everyday...along with everybody else on the road.
Indeed. At the rate they were covering for him it might have taken a tragedy involving deaths of innocents before they acted. Hopefully they got the message and will can this guy before he T-bones or Head-Ons somebody.
I guess he just got done watching “Superbad”.
Any officer drinking on the job or while carrying his firearm should be fired on the spot.
How many other times was he stopped but allowed to go on as a “professional courtesy”.
Bet that he gets off because he is “diseased” I hate this type of crap. It makes all the cops who deal with the job and put up with the “stress” look bad.
Have to give the Trooper who arrested him credit though. It took ba77s to do that. He will probably have his name dragged through the mud locally for doing the right thing.
You are probably right. The trooper will get the nasty end of this deal.
This was a local LEO arrested by DPS. Of all the cops in Texas I will have to tip my hat to DPS troopers.
2nd DWI in a police car!! Fire his a@@!! Yesterday!
I'm like our other FReeper, sign me up for the same treatment!
After LMAO at the froth & spittle of the “I hate authority figures” responses to this story, I have to say I couldn’t agree more with their central point: this guy is a hopeless alcoholic who should have his badge, gun, and car keys taken away immediately and forever.
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