Post by Bo/CCPU Founder on Nov 10, 2015 10:29:56 GMT -6
Proves the old adage that some days you're better off staying in bed with the covers pulled over your head!
Florida cop turned up drunk to collect Mothers Against Drunk Driving award Matthew Diebel, USATODAY
www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/11/10/florida-cop-turned-up-drunk-collect-mothers-against-drunk-driving-award/75507038/
A Florida police officer who was due to be honored at a Mothers Against Drunk Driving conference and training session turned up drunk to collect his award, according to local media.
Call it dumb while intoxicated.
A Florida police officer who was due to be honored at a Mothers Against Drunk Driving conference turned up drunk to collect his award, according to local media.
So wasted, according to an internal affairs investigation, that he was found wandering in a hotel hallway stripped to his underwear. He also was described as “staggeringly drunk” by a witness at the Friday night banquet where he was slated to receive the MADD accolade.
Records obtained by two Tampa TV stations show that Michael Szeliga, a deputy from neighboring Pinelas County, packed a bottle of Jameson Irish whiskey in his patrol car before driving across the state to the Hyatt Regency Pier 66 Hotel in Fort Lauderdale with two other deputies.
They were there in July for two days of training to combat drunk driving. Szeliga was also supposed to receive a MADD decoration for making more than 100 DUI arrests, WFLA reported.
The bulging 274-page report detailed how a local police chief, Robert Vincent, encountered Szeliga outside the banquet and suggested it wasn’t appropriate for him to attend due to his intoxication. That led to “disrespectful” comments, which prompted Vincent, who commands the Gulfport police, to tell one of Szeliga’s supervisors that the deputy was “wasted.”
“I thought, 'Hmm, probably not the right place to be intoxicated,'” Vincent told WFTS. “I asked if he would tell me his name, and he said he wasn't going to tell me his name and I said well you probably don't want to be at a MADD awards banquet while you are intoxicated. He didn't take my advice -- he kind of just walked away, so I reported that to his supervisor.
“When you recognize someone who is a police chief in your home county who says you are too drunk to be going to a MADD conference and you ignore that, blatantly that's just not right.”
Szeliga’s supervisor, according to the investigation seen by WFLA, said he smelled alcohol on Szeliga’s breath and ordered him to return to his room and miss the banquet -- and his award.
But that wasn’t all, the stations reported.
According to the document, Szeliga signed in and attended a morning session of the DUI training but left with two other deputies following the first break, having decided it was no longer “relevant” to him since he was transferring to the child-protection unit. This despite the fact that MADD required attendance at all training in exchange for picking up expenses.
Szeliga told investigators he then returned to his hotel room, poured himself a few whiskey and Coke cocktails and headed down to the pool area with the two other deputies, who had also skipped the training. Szeliga said, according to WFLA’s reporting, that one of the other deputies had also brought a bottle of Crown Royal for the weekend.
As evening approached, the report continued, a sergeant who runs the DUI squad in neighboring Pasco County reported seeing Szeliga in the hotel hallway, drunk and wearing “nothing but boxer shorts.”
The Pasco sergeant told investigators Szeliga’s eyes were glassy and his speech was slurred. However, Szeliga denied being intoxicated and said that he had only consumed two or three drinks that he poured from the Jameson bottle in his room.
Last month, according to the stations, Szeliga received one day of suspension for violating the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office “Standard of Conduct.” He also had to write a letter of apology to Vincent.
Szeliga declined to comment when contacted by WFLA and WFTS.
Florida cop turned up drunk to collect Mothers Against Drunk Driving award Matthew Diebel, USATODAY
www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/11/10/florida-cop-turned-up-drunk-collect-mothers-against-drunk-driving-award/75507038/
A Florida police officer who was due to be honored at a Mothers Against Drunk Driving conference and training session turned up drunk to collect his award, according to local media.
Call it dumb while intoxicated.
A Florida police officer who was due to be honored at a Mothers Against Drunk Driving conference turned up drunk to collect his award, according to local media.
So wasted, according to an internal affairs investigation, that he was found wandering in a hotel hallway stripped to his underwear. He also was described as “staggeringly drunk” by a witness at the Friday night banquet where he was slated to receive the MADD accolade.
Records obtained by two Tampa TV stations show that Michael Szeliga, a deputy from neighboring Pinelas County, packed a bottle of Jameson Irish whiskey in his patrol car before driving across the state to the Hyatt Regency Pier 66 Hotel in Fort Lauderdale with two other deputies.
They were there in July for two days of training to combat drunk driving. Szeliga was also supposed to receive a MADD decoration for making more than 100 DUI arrests, WFLA reported.
The bulging 274-page report detailed how a local police chief, Robert Vincent, encountered Szeliga outside the banquet and suggested it wasn’t appropriate for him to attend due to his intoxication. That led to “disrespectful” comments, which prompted Vincent, who commands the Gulfport police, to tell one of Szeliga’s supervisors that the deputy was “wasted.”
“I thought, 'Hmm, probably not the right place to be intoxicated,'” Vincent told WFTS. “I asked if he would tell me his name, and he said he wasn't going to tell me his name and I said well you probably don't want to be at a MADD awards banquet while you are intoxicated. He didn't take my advice -- he kind of just walked away, so I reported that to his supervisor.
“When you recognize someone who is a police chief in your home county who says you are too drunk to be going to a MADD conference and you ignore that, blatantly that's just not right.”
Szeliga’s supervisor, according to the investigation seen by WFLA, said he smelled alcohol on Szeliga’s breath and ordered him to return to his room and miss the banquet -- and his award.
But that wasn’t all, the stations reported.
According to the document, Szeliga signed in and attended a morning session of the DUI training but left with two other deputies following the first break, having decided it was no longer “relevant” to him since he was transferring to the child-protection unit. This despite the fact that MADD required attendance at all training in exchange for picking up expenses.
Szeliga told investigators he then returned to his hotel room, poured himself a few whiskey and Coke cocktails and headed down to the pool area with the two other deputies, who had also skipped the training. Szeliga said, according to WFLA’s reporting, that one of the other deputies had also brought a bottle of Crown Royal for the weekend.
As evening approached, the report continued, a sergeant who runs the DUI squad in neighboring Pasco County reported seeing Szeliga in the hotel hallway, drunk and wearing “nothing but boxer shorts.”
The Pasco sergeant told investigators Szeliga’s eyes were glassy and his speech was slurred. However, Szeliga denied being intoxicated and said that he had only consumed two or three drinks that he poured from the Jameson bottle in his room.
Last month, according to the stations, Szeliga received one day of suspension for violating the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office “Standard of Conduct.” He also had to write a letter of apology to Vincent.
Szeliga declined to comment when contacted by WFLA and WFTS.