Police arrested one of their own Sunday night, charging an off-duty officer with drunk driving after he crashed into a parked car.
Alex Alvarez apparently argued with the manager of Chili's Grill & Bar on Nolana, refused to wait for a taxi that had been called and then backed into the same manager's truck just after 10 p.m. Sunday, according to police records.
The 39-year-old Alvarez was arraigned in McAllen Municipal Court on Monday and released on a $5,000 personal recognizance bond. He has been suspended without pay until the criminal charges are resolved, said McAllen police Chief Victor Rodriguez.
"In our business, these kinds of matters have the potential to have very, very serious consequences," Rodriguez said. "The outcome of last night may determine his future."
Aside from the criminal charges he is facing, Alvarez could lose his job and be stripped by the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards of Education of his license to be a police officer, Rodriguez said.
"(Alvarez) has been a ... good officer for us," Rodriguez said. "We've been lucky to have his services; however, you have what happened last night."
A 14-year veteran of the force, Alvarez repeatedly asked officers to let him drive home when they arrived Sunday night. Officers found Alvarez behind the wheel of his Ford truck, a red security steering wheel lock still clamped on the steering wheel, according to police records.
Witnesses and Chili's employees told police that Alvarez had been bothering four female customers and had to be escorted from the table. A manager at the restaurant said that Alvarez was "too intoxicated" to drive home, so he called a taxi, according to the records.
When the manager tried to stall Alvarez until the taxi arrived, Alvarez apparently stripped a pair of glasses from the manager's head and threw them to the floor.
A security camera in the parking lot then captured Alvarez get into his truck and back into the other vehicle, according to police records. Police suspect that he forgot to remove the security lock from the steering wheel before backing up, according to the records.
Alvarez refused to take a Breathlyzer tests and refused other sobriety tests once at the police station. When officers arrived at the scene, Alvarez said he couldn't remember "doing anything to the manager" and he repeatedly asked officers to let him drive home.
But after officers recounted what witnesses described, Alvarez apologized to officers for putting them in the precarious situation of arresting a fellow policeman, according to the records.
"(Alvarez said) that we should do what we had to do and that it was all his fault," according to the report. "(Alvarez said) that he did not want us to get in trouble for his actions."
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