A Harris County Sheriff’s deputy arrested for suspicion of driving while intoxicated in Montgomery County remains on desk duty during the investigation.
He was in his uniform and driving his patrol car at the time of the incident.
Deputy Murray Campbell, an HCSO veteran since 1992, was arrested around 9:53 p.m. Saturday on Honea Egypt Road, south of FM 2854, near the Montgomery Trace subdivision, Department of Public Safety spokesman Tom Binger said.
Campbell’s address is listed in Montgomery Trace, according to Public Data.
A DPS trooper saw Campbell’s marked patrol car northbound on Interstate 45 in Montgomery County, Binger said.
“The trooper observed the unit driving at excessive speed and erratically,” Binger said. “My understanding is he (Campbell) was headed home.”
The trooper followed Campbell onto FM 2854 and eventually to Honea Egypt Road, where a constable’s deputy had pulled someone over, Binger said.
“The deputy (Campbell) did stop briefly on Honea Egypt Road,” Binger said. “What his purpose was, I’m not sure. He was getting back into his car, and that’s when the trooper pulled up.”
Binger could not say whether Campbell had stopped to assist the constable’s deputy.
But Precinct 2 Constable Gene DeForest said one of his deputies had initiated a separate traffic stop on Honea Egypt Road.
“He had heard bits and pieces (of the DPS pursuit of Campbell) over the radio but knew it was on I-45 and didn’t think anything of it until he heard them say they were turning onto 2854,” DeForest said. “The next thing he knew, the deputy’s car pulls up next to him, and he’s (Campbell) asking him if he’s OK and needs help.”
About that time, DeForest said, the DPS trooper, along with an unmarked DPS car, pulled up and the trooper got out.
“That’s when they could smell the alcohol (on Campbell’s breath),” DeForest said.
The trooper asked Campbell to take a field sobriety test, which Campbell refused, and the trooper took him to the Montgomery County Jail, Binger said. There, he refused a breathalyzer test.
The Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office obtained a search warrant for a sample of Campbell’s blood and he was arrested for DWI based on the test results, Binger said.
He was released that same night on a $1,000 bond, according to officials with the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office.
Montgomery County District Attorney Brett Ligon, who served as legal counsel for the Houston Police Officers Union before taking office as DA in January, only represented officers with the Houston Police Department and not with the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, Assistant District Attorney Warren Diepraam said.
“If he had at any time represented Deputy Campbell, that would disqualify this office (from prosecuting him),” Diepraam said. “However, we have no reason to suspect he ever represented him.”
Campbell had worked two shifts beginning at 6 a.m. Saturday, HCSO Maj. Robert Doguim said. The deputy remains on administrative duty, or a desk job, until the “situation is resolved,” he said.
“We’ve got to wait until the blood tests come back,” he said. “It could be up to 30 days.”
In addition to the DPS investigation, the HCSO’s Office of Inspector General is investigating the incident, Doguim said.
Campbell, who patrols parks in Harris County, had been asked to work an extra shift at a park after his normal shift ended, Doguim said. He was off duty but still in his uniform and driving his patrol car when he was stopped.
The sample of Campbell’s blood was sent to the Houston DPS lab, said Capt. Patrick Mulligan, of the DPS district office in Conroe.
“It could be a few months (to get results back) because of the backlog of blood tests,” he said.
Campbell was shot in 1996 while working as an off-duty security guard at a Houston restaurant, according to information on www.the100club.com. He and HCSO Deputy Randy Eng were attempting to intervene in a disturbance at the restaurant. Eng was shot in the head, and Campbell was shot in the arm.
Eng died from his injuries, according to information on the website.
No comments:
Post a Comment