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Authorities in Texas say an off-duty police officer who blew virtually double the authorized restrict throughout a DWI arrest earlier this month will not be prosecuted after an sudden element derailed the case.
In response to court docket data, the Harris County District Legal professional’s Workplace dropped a DWI cost towards Houston Police Division officer Phillip Marquez, 38, who was accused of being drunk on his motorbike on the aspect of the street on Sept. 14 attributable to “inadequate proof of defendant’s guilt.”
On the time, native experiences say, he blew .15 – virtually double the authorized restrict – right into a breathalyzer and was arrested for driving whereas intoxicated. He was then booked into Harris County Jail.
On Friday, nevertheless, the cost was dismissed as prosecutors can not show that he was ever driving his motorbike, KTRK reported.
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Houston Police Division officer Phillip Marquez, 38, was allegedly discovered drunk on his motorbike on the aspect of the street on Sept. 14. (Harris County Jail)
On Sept. 14, a passing motorist known as the police after seeing a car on the aspect of the street, and responding officers discovered Marquez, who was off-duty on the time, on the stalled motorbike.
The car was described as “non-operational.”
Officers required Marquez to endure an alcohol breath take a look at, and the off-duty officer defined to the officers the place he was six hours earlier than that second however by no means admitted to driving whereas intoxicated, based on KTRK.
Nobody witnessed him driving the car both.
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In the end, the district legal professional’s workplace stated they may not show that Phillip Marquez ever operated the motorbike — a crucial factor of a DWI. (PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP by way of Getty Pictures)
In the end, the DA’s workplace stated they may not show that Marquez ever operated the motorbike — a crucial factor of a DWI.
“The place any person has been discovered on the aspect of the street, they’re close to a car, it seems to be like they had been driving, however no person noticed them driving, the federal government has to find out if they will show the case by means of circumstantial proof,” protection legal professional Brian Foley, a former prosecutor within the vehicular crimes division, informed KTRK.
He added, “What a police officer will know is that one of many components of DWI is to show you had been truly working the car, so that you may say one thing that reveals that you simply’re there, however possibly I wasn’t working. That may be the very first thing you’d attempt to conceal.”
Phillip Marquez by no means admitted to driving whereas intoxicated. (Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle by way of Getty Pictures)
Foley stated he has seen a “wheeling situation” like this derail different prosecutions, normally involving prosecutors having to show suspects had been intoxicated on the time of driving — to not show they had been driving within the first place.
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“It is extra more likely to dismiss a case since you’re unsure in the event that they’re intoxicated on the time of driving versus not being certain that they did drive,” he stated.
Marquez, a senior officer who was first sworn in as an officer in June 2008, was subsequently relieved of obligation following his arrest, pending an inner investigation by the Houston Police Division.
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