School resource officer found ‘passed out’ in patrol car at red light, Florida cops say

A school resource officer was fired after a Florida sheriff’s office said he was “passed out” behind the wheel of his patrol vehicle at a red light for a full light cycle, according to an internal investigation from the agency.

Christopher Greene, who worked for the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office and was stationed at a high school in Kenneth City, about 20 miles southwest of Tampa, was terminated Dec. 20, according to a spokesperson for the agency.

The investigating agency said Greene was not criminally charged because responding deputies initially thought he was suffering from a medical condition and did not test him for impairment at the scene.

Greene found ‘slumped over the steering wheel,’ investigation shows

Deputies from neighboring Hillsborough County responded Dec. 18, to a report of a man “slumped over the steering wheel” of a marked Pinellas County patrol vehicle while it was stopped at a red light at an intersection in Brandon, according to an internal investigation released to McClatchy News by the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office. Brandon is about 12 miles east of Tampa.

The cruiser stopped at the red light just after 6 p.m., according to the documents. When the light turned green, the vehicle in front of the cruiser made a right turn, but the cruiser did not move, investigators said.

Eventually, a woman walked up to the passenger side of the vehicle and called law enforcement at about 6:15 p.m., the documents say. She later told deputies she was stopped behind the cruiser for a full light cycle before she went up to the window and saw the driver slumped over and appearing to be “asleep,” according to the investigation.

A worker from a nearby restaurant later told deputies he went out to the street to help direct traffic around the cruiser, and did so for about 10 minutes while the driver stayed “motionless” inside, documents say.

When a Hillsborough County deputy arrived at the scene, Greene “came to” and tried to put his cruiser in drive, according to the internal investigation. When the deputy asked him to get out of his vehicle, he was “reluctant to step out,” documents say.

Greene was off duty at the time, according to the investigation.

The Hillsborough County deputy did not consider alcohol to be a factor in the incident and asked Greene if he had a medical condition, according to the investigation. Greene said he had been recently diagnosed with diabetes. Hillsborough County fire rescue officials drove Greene to a local hospital for an evaluation.

During his evaluation, a nurse “spontaneously stated” that he seemed “really drunk,” according to the investigation. A supervisor told a deputy who was with Greene at the hospital not to detain him but to “stall him,” documents say. Greene left the hospital anyway and got a ride to his father’s house, documents say.

Meanwhile, deputies at the scene of the traffic incident got into Greene’s vehicle to drive it away and noticed alcohol bottles and cans inside, the investigation says.

A deputy found an empty “shooter” whiskey bottle on the passenger-side floorboard, a paper bag with multiple whiskey bottles inside and an open, partially empty can of beer in the cup holder, documents say.

A sergeant then went to find Greene at his father’s house and administered two breath tests, the investigation says. His results were 0.234 blood alcohol content and 0.223 blood alcohol content, the investigation says. Both results are nearly three times the legal limit of 0.08 blood alcohol content.

Greene violated policy, sheriff says, but no charges filed

Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri terminated Greene on Dec. 20 and cited a sheriff’s office policy “concerning members operating a motor vehicle while impaired,” according to a termination letter.

The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, which handled the investigation into Greene’s conduct, said Greene was not criminally charged in connection with the incident because the containers of alcohol were found in his vehicle after he had left the hospital, meaning investigators could no longer test for impairment.

“When (Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office) deputies initially responded to the scene, Greene stated that he was having medical issues,” an agency spokesperson said in an email. “Our immediate concern at that time was to make sure his medical issues were addressed. He was taken to the hospital due to those health concerns. Deputies found containers inside the vehicle that appeared to contain alcohol after the driver was no longer at the hospital, so we were unable to test for impairment. Because of that, Greene did not face any criminal charges in connection to the incident.”

Greene could not be reached for comment.

The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office released an email sent by Gualtieri in 2013 alerting employees to its policy on impaired driving.

“I never want to be in the position of having to terminate anyone’s employment; however, I also do not want to be the one knocking on the door of someone’s home at 2 :00 a.m. telling them that their loved one was killed by a DUI driver-especially one that works for (Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office),” the email says. “There is an easy solution to avoid any consequence of this new policy - don’t drive while impaired.”

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