Milwaukee police officer Jon R. Parker has been suspended
for 30 days for driving drunk and rolling his vehicle into a ditch during a
hunting trip in Washington County, according to Fire and Police Commission
records.
Parker, who was hired as a police officer in 1991, told
police that after hunting on Oct. 11, 2011, he drank four or five beers with
dinner.
"Officer Parker stated while driving home he fell
asleep, entered a ditch, hit a concrete barrier and flipped the vehicle
over," according to a complaint Chief Edward Flynn filed with the
commission.
No one was injured in the crash.
Parker, whose blood-alcohol level was 0.11, was ticketed
for first-offense drunken driving, the complaint says. The legal limit for
driving in Wisconsin is 0.08.
There is no other discipline on Parker's personnel
record.
A Journal Sentinel investigation published in October
found that at least 35 members of Milwaukee's police force have been
disciplined by the department after being arrested for driving drunk off-duty
since they were hired.
After the newspaper shared its findings with Flynn, he
rolled out a new program to help officers deal with alcohol-related issues.
In a video presentation to officers, the audio portion of
which was obtained by the newspaper, Flynn said drunken driving is "as
much a threat to officer safety as any other issue."
"Anybody who is a police officer who drives drunk
puts their life in danger and the life of the public in danger," he said
during the speech.