Thursday, January 07, 2010

Corporal John Quigg Charged with DUI

Do as I say, not as I do. That could well be the new motto of the Pennsylvania State Police, as one of their own is facing disciplinary action following an alleged drunk driving incident last month. It's not uncommon for a police officer to be involved in an accident, or even for one to receive a citation, but this story has a twist.

According to the Philadelphia Daily News, Corporal John Quigg, a 24-year state police veteran and crash reconstructionist was involved in an off duty accident. That in and of itself isn't particularly noteworthy, but there's even more to the story.

What makes the story newsworthy is that Quigg is also one of the officers that oversees Philadelphia's DUI checkpoints. Not only that, but Quigg is apparently a drug-recognition expert as well, meaning he can tell what somebody is on based on their behavior. Maybe he should have been checking out the man in the mirror.

The accident occurred a week before Christmas last year, when Quigg crashed his Honda Accord into a guard rail, according to the police report. There wasn't much damage to his car because he was going pretty slow, but the responding trooper found Quigg unresponsive and slumped over.

He was taken to a local hospital for evaluation and later charged with driving under the influence and careless driving. He also had an open container in the vehicle according to a police spokesperson. While everybody makes mistakes, we generally want to believe that our officers are held to a higher standard. According to the spokesperson, Cpl. Quigg is on administrative leave

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