Los Angeles Police Department Officer, Jonathan D. Chel, 29, of Fullerton, unintentionally ordered up himself a McDUI after plowing his vehicle into a McDonalds in the early Friday morning.
Chel was exiting the 60 freeway on the Brea Canyon Road off ramp in Diamond Bar at 1:15 a.m. when he lost control of his black Mazda 3 said California Highway Patrol Officer Rodrigo Jimenez.
“The crash occurred when he failed to negotiate the right turn. Instead, he left the off-ramp, went through the on-ramp and eventually crash-landed in the McDonald’s parking lot,” Jimenez said.
The Los Angeles County Fire Department had to pry open Chel’s vehicle door to be able to remove him. Chel was hospitalized and, fortunately, no one else was injured.
Although Jimenez said that Chel would not be treated “any differently than any other circumstance,” Chel did not take a field breath test. In fact, Jimenez noted that police officers “are definitely held to a higher standard.” However, Jimenez also said, “We had enough to substantiate that he was under the influence of alcohol.”
In my experience, not once has an officer declined to breathalyze a DUI suspect because there was already “enough information to substantiate that they were under the influence.” It seems a little odd that law enforcement would decline to obtain further evidence of a person driving under the influence. Unless the DUI suspect declines to provide a preliminary alcohol screening test breath sample, which doesn’t seem to be the case here, this is certainly not treating him like any other person stopped for driving under the influence.
Chel’s blood alcohol content was determined, however the CHP is not releasing the results citing an ongoing investigation.
“We decided that the appropriate action to take…was to cite and release him to his supervisor from the Los Angeles Police Department,” said Jimenez.
The post Los Angeles Police Department Officer Arrested for DUI After Crashing into McDonalds appeared first on Law Offices of Taylor and Taylor - DUI Central.
