Trooper accused of DUI while on patrol waives case to court
news@greenecountymessenger.com
A state police trooper accused of being drunk while on patrol with a rum bottle inside his marked police cruiser in May waived the case to court during his preliminary hearing.
Jared Clyde Johnson, 46, of South Franklin, is facing one misdemeanor charge of drunken driving and two summary offenses after state police said he damaged his police SUV after hitting a curb on patrol and was later found by a supervisor to be intoxicated.
Johnson, who graduated from the police academy in 2005, has worked at stations in Greene, Fayette and Washington counties.
He was scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing June 17 before District Judge John Bruner, but waived the charge and is now scheduled for a DUI hearing at 9 a.m. Aug. 22 in Washington Court Court of Common Pleas.
Johnson was on patrol during his afternoon shift May 12 when he was dispatched to a report of an injured deer on Interstate 70 near the Claysville exit. He never went to the scene, and a supervisor later tracked Johnson down and found him sitting in his police SUV in a gravel parking lot near the Taylorstown exit. The supervisor found a rum bottle in the passenger seat, according to court documents.
Another supervisor watched a dashboard camera video from the SUV and saw that Johnson had struck a curb on Jefferson Avenue in Washington as he was dispatched to the call, which damaged the vehicle.
Investigators wrote in court documents that Johnson was clearly intoxicated, but he declined to consent to a blood test, automatically triggering the DUI charge.
A state police spokesman near Harrisburg said Johnson has been suspended without pay pending the outcome of his case. He could face termination because the alleged offense happened with a state-issued vehicle.
Johnson is the second state police trooper from the Washington County barracks since September to be charged with DUI in a state-issued vehicle.
Trooper Jeffrey Alan Tihey is accused of being intoxicated in his unmarked police SUV on Sept. 30 when he allegedly struck a parked vehicle outside the North Strabane Township’s No. 3 fire station at 430 Johnson Road. Tihey, who is a criminal investigator, has had his preliminary hearing rescheduled multiple times while he remains on restricted duty. His hearing is currently scheduled for 3 p.m. July 15 before Senior District Judge Larry Hopkins.