Alcohol conviction: Crashing ABC agent guilty of DUI, appeals
The Albemarle Charlottesville Regional Jail refuses to release the mugshot of the ABC agent arrested for driving under the influence.It was a case of too much alcohol for an alcohol agent. According to testimony heard July 13 in Albemarle General District Court, an officer with the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control slammed an ABC vehicle into a stopped truck on U.S. 29 and then registered .14 blood alcohol level.
Witness Jonathan Lippert testified that he was sitting at a stoplight in his Silverado on southbound 29 at Airport Road on March 4 and watched in his rearview mirror as a silver Impala with flashing law enforcement lights zoomed up behind him.
"I realized he wasn't going to stop," Lippert testified. "I braced, and he hit me."
Lippert got out of his truck and walked back to the car occupied by the ABC's Special Agent Eric Allen Jones, age 51, of Waynesboro.
"I noticed he didn't have a seatbelt on at that time, and I smelled the odor of alcohol," Lippert testified, also noting a deployed airbag, the windshield broken from Jones' head, and an agent whose demeanor concerned the witness, a U.S. Marine.
"What I observed was Mr. Jones stumbling around and not walking straight," Lippert testified.
According to the ABC website, ABC special agents are certified police officers with statewide authority not only to make arrests for alcohol violations, but also to make arrests for other violations of state criminal law. In this case, however, a member of the Virginia State Police took charge of the scene.
State Trooper Scott Miller testified that Jones initially claimed to be heading downtown to serve a warrant, thus the activated lights and siren. But then Jones conceded it wasn't really an emergency, the trooper noted, and Jones offered that he drank a beer with dinner at Northside Restaurant in Ruckersville.
Perhaps aware that a single beer typically can't raise a man's blood-alcohol level above .02, Miller asked Jones to perform several field sobriety tests. Jones allegedly flunked the one-legged stand, the forward count to 30, and the venerable heel-to-toe walk.
"I placed him under arrest, read him his Miranda rights, and transported him to jail," said Miller, who administered a breath test at the Albemarle Charlottesville Regional Jail, where Jones blew the .14 blood alcohol level reported in court. A level of .08 is considered driving under the influence in Virginia.
Judge William Barkley found Jones guilty, and Jones' attorney, Frank Mika, immediately noted an appeal.
Jones, who did not testify in court, has been on unpaid administrative leave since his arrest pending the outcome of an internal investigation, says ABC spokesperson Becky Gettings. She refuses to confirm whether Jones was on duty when he crashed into the stopped pickup, again citing the pending investigation.
As for whether a DUI conviction and the crash of a state-owned car could threaten the job of an ABC agent, Gettings says the matter falls under the state Standards of Conduct, and she declined to elaborate.
Updated 7/19/10 with the ABC's refusal to disclose whether Jones was on the job or not when he was arrested.
31 comments
Deleted by moderator.
ABC officers do not put their lives on the line...their main job is to bust on minors
i would have never have taken the field soberity tests nor the breath tests. my dealings w/abc agents thats there job two sit and have drinks and see who they can bust. guess he over did it..i personally think if u have a cdl like an ups truck u shouldnt lose it if u get a dui in a personal car
As a State Employee, the state will fire the Special Agent if he gets convicted. With that said the state would fired him even if he got a DUI in his personal car. The reason is because he has to be available to drive at all hours any day of the week. If he gets convicted and gets a Restricted License, he still won't be able to drive when the State needs him too.
Someone posted that "There’s a great difference between impaired skills due to aging and due to alcohol. One has no control over aging"
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No difference at all to me. You don't have a right to kill people with your car, just because you're getting older!
COLONEL
YOU ARE DEAD WRONG ABOUT GETTING CHEAPER LIQUOR IF THE STORES WERE IN PRIVATE HANDS. ALL THE STATES THAT HAVE GOTTEN RID OF THE CONTROL SYSTEM SUCH AS VA. HAS, HAVE SEEN AN INCREASE IN THE COST TO THE CONSUMER FOR DISTILLED SPIRITS AND IT WOULD BE THE SAME HERE IN VA.
THE ABC SPECIAL AGENT DOES A MULTITUDE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT DUTIES INCLUDING DRUG WORK, ALCOHOL LAW ENFORCEMENT, AND GENERAL LAW ENFORCEMENT DUTIES.
AS FAR AS THE SITUATION IN CHARLOTTESVILLE INVOLVING THE ABC AGENT IS CONCERNED, HE IS WRONG IN WHAT HE DID AND NO DOUBT WILL LOSE HIS JOB OVER IT AS HE SHOULD.
LAW ENFORCEMENT IS JUST LIKE ANY ORGANIZATION. THERE ARE PEOPLE IN THEM THAT NEED TO BE WEEDED OUT AS IS THE CASE WITH THIS AGENT, BUT LETS NOT PAINT ALL THE AGENTS WITH THE SAME BRUSH BECAUSE MOST OF THEM ARE HARD WORKING LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS WHO PUT THEIR LIVES ON THE LINE EVERY DAY FOR YOU AND I.
Lying during an internal investigation will get you fired. Period.
This could be filed under the "We Are Not Making This Up" section.
I don't think gasbag is reading the governing parts of the policy. See the section on "violations" in the alcohol and drugs section. Provided the state car is consdiered part of the "workplaace" for this guy, he's toast.
Send the guy to treatment and give him a desk job, maybe running random drug tests on other ABC agents. This state is full of hypocrisy, starteing with McDonnell and Cooch the Clown, whats to exempt the ABC?
I'll point out from personal experience, ABC agents are intimidating businesses on the corner to try to close. Closing businesses is not what Charlottesville needs, but is what ABC agents are after. Jones and his cronies are all overzealous and don't work with business owners. He should have been fired before his DUI. This should be no question. This is a job where you lead by example. A DUI for someone who's job it is to prevent exactly this sort of thing?
Being fired from this job should have happened the next day, circumstances matter none. A DUI is a DUI. Oh and by the way, he WAS ON THE CLOCK AND "WORKING!"
Speaking of trying to close businesses and a taxpayer's waste of money in government, the fire marshals in Charlottesville are even worse than the ABC. They are each losing Charlottesville money. and not from the types of places like Bel Rio.
when I mention "the corner" above, I am not referring to Belmont, but rather to "The Corner" beside UVa. University Ave, Elliewood, 14th street, etc.
"Should a state employee be fired for DUI? No. Bankers aren’t."
Most bankers are not required by their job to drive a vehicle. Would a UPS driver be fired for DUI and wrecking his/her truck? Yes.
Taken from the Standards of Conduct:
Agencies must inform employees, on an ongoing basis, of:
1.the dangers of alcohol and/or other drug use or abuse in the workplace;
2.available counseling for alcohol and/or other drug use;
3.available rehabilitation and employee assistance programs; and
4.the penalties that may be imposed for policy violations, as set forth in the Disciplinary Section above.
Did the state inform Agent Jones on an ongoing basis? Or would it come as a total suprise to the state that they must do this?
Should a state employee be fired for DUI? No. Bankers aren't. Doctors aren't. If he was piloting an aircraft with 299 people on it, yes, he should be fired and have his FAA license revoked!
Couldn't happen to a nicer, more deserving guy!
I don't understand what's to appeal? Trying to get off on a technicallity?? Guess you had to be there....
Col. Forbin, 25 years ago I would have agreed with you 100%. UPS drivers weren't allowed to so much as put a scratch on their trucks, or they would face very severe penalties.
Fast forward to 2010, the worker now has more federal and state given rights than the employer does. I doubt very seriously if UPS can fire a driver for a first offense of DUI even if they wreck big brown while drinking.
Read the Standards of Conduct that Lisa Provence linked to in her story. There's so many loopholes in it there's no wonder ABC spokesperson Becky Gettings didn't know how to answer a simple question.
Whether he gets fired or not will be based on whether he and/or bankers or doctors should be fired for DUIs committed on their own time while not performing their jobs. It will be based on whether he did something that was not permitted while in performance of his official duties. I don't know what restrictions apply to such officers while on duty, but it's probably a safe bet that his job description as a state officer does not explicitly condone drinking and driving while on duty. (If it does, whoo-hoo!) Similarly, if a Dr. screws up a surgury and causes injury while being drunk on the job, s/he would indeed have a little malpractice problem to deal with, as well as one concerning continued certification to practice medicine, and getting firted would be up to the employing hospital or partnerhsip. Bankers, of course, can be fired for whatever reason the employing bank says they can fire them for in their employment manual, or for no reason at all. That's the American way.
This story has hit the ABC agency very hard as privitization of liquor stores is gaining steam and most people do not realize ABC Agents would lose their job if this happens. The one reason we keep giving the state congress on why we should continue to be state run, is that we keep underage drinking down and DUIs.
But the story here is simple. It is very similiar to Elliot Spitzer. Elliot as Governor went after prostitution and then got caught using one. This Agent makes alcohol arrests on people for FAR LESS than what he did. It's simple though. When we take our oath, we make the decision to uphold the law. Not break it. He broke SEVERAL laws and should lose his shield. No question. He cost the state valuable money with the crash and endangered lives by driving while almost twice the legal limit.
Get rid of the ABC! We'll even wave the tar & feathering! I've had enough of their self employing stamp tax!
it's easy to see there are major conflicts
in the state making a profit off selling a drug
called alcohol.
Just look at how the jail is protecting one of it's own
by not releasing the mug shots. I bet all criminals
wish they had that kind of pull.
~Pam, mother of a dead child named Kelli
(killed by a drunk driver)
Why are people always picking on drunk drivers?
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That may seem like a bizarre question, but what I really mean is...
How many accidents do people cause who are TOO OLD to be driving properly?!
Because of lobbying powers of organizations like "ARP," people who are so old and unfit to drive who don't even KNOW that they're driving a car are free to get behind the wheel of their car and drive, and it's considered FUNNY on some of these shows like "The Smoking Gun"!
It's sick. Statistics on the deaths caused by people who are unfit to drive due to their AGE should be kept, also!
If you look on Google.com, you'll see that the important factors that control our ability to drive properly, start to go downhill by age TWENTY-FIVE! I'm not talking about disciminating against the elderly: I'm saying we need to start getting people tested every five years from age 25 onward, not age 65 onward!
People should have to take a driving test, in a car, at their OWN expense, every 5 years, starting at age 25!
Hey Gasbag, actually UPS drivers can get fired for wrecking a truck. I know one who ran into a dock and was fired last year. The ultimate reason he got fired was because he didn't tell the truth about how it happened. Like telling someone you only had one beer, but blowing a .14
"Never get high on your own supply"
@hmmm...I like your idea about taking a driving test every 5 years and the individual paying for it could actually raise revenues. However, starting at age 25? so a 16 to 24 year old gets "card blanche"...nope, don't agree with that. Instead, I suggest this, the first "driving" test is at 16 (and a few odd months) when you get your license. The next should be five years later, at 21 and so on. While some indivduals have impaired driving skills later in life (others NEVER learn to drive properly)..it's a known fact that drinking and driving impairs your skills IMMEDIATELY...so yeah, they get "picked on"....hope you are not one of these "picked on"! Have a great day!
@hmmm....PS. 47% of statistics are made up on the spot...wouldn't trust Google too much if I were you.
There's a great difference between impaired skills due to aging and due to alcohol. One has no control over aging, but an individual chooses to go ahead and drive after drinking.
Drinking and driving on the job in an employer's vehicle no less-I think that would be reasonable grounds for termination.
Too bad if some feel drunk drivers are picked on-after all they are lawbreakers.
"I doubt very seriously if UPS can fire a driver for a first offense of DUI even if they wreck big brown while drinking."
Seriously? Get a clue.
My comment about ABC agents got deleted. How bout this?
What do ABC agents do besides but underage kids and places that sell to underage kids?
Review and monitor liquor licenses, make sure alcohol tax revenue is being properly received...?
It's time Virginia joined the 21st century and got rid of the ABC stores. The state has no business operating retail stores for anything. Let the private sector take over, and prices will drop. Just my 2 cents...
John, even if I had to pay a little more - which I sincerely doubt - I would happily do so. To my mind, it's not the state's job to sell liquor. The free market handles this well in other states and would do so here. It really doesn't have anything to do with the individuals who work for the agency. I'm sure the vast majority of them are capable and hard-working.