An off-duty Hurst police officer out celebrating a fellow officer’s promotion was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving early Friday in downtown Fort Worth as part of a holiday weekend crackdown.
Steven Jay Barriger, 27, was pulled over shortly after 1:30 a.m. by a Fort Worth DWI officer who had observed him driving erratically, according to a police report.
The officer reported seeing Barriger swerve in his Ford Mustang and almost rear-end a vehicle at a red light. After pulling the Mustang over in the 400 block of East Seventh Street, the officer smelled alcohol, according to the report.
The report states that Barriger initially denied that he had been drinking but later acknowledged that he and his passenger, fellow officer Jacob Eubanks, had been at The Library Bar celebrating Eubanks’ upcoming promotion to corporal.
Barriger was given a field sobriety test but refused to take a breath test, prompting the Fort Worth officer to obtain a search warrant for a mandatory blood draw, police said.
Barriger was later booked into the Mansfield Jail on suspicion of driving while intoxicated. He was released Friday afternoon after posting $500 bail.
Eubanks was released at the scene to Hurst police officials.
Hurst Assistant Police Chief Steve Niekamp said both officers have been placed on administrative leave while the department investigates. Barriger has been with the department since May 2008 and Eubanks since August 2001, Niekamp said.
The Fort Worth Police Department is among several law enforcement agencies participating in a statewide Texas Transportation Department campaign in which additional officers are on the streets looking for drunken drivers. The campaign began Aug. 21 and runs through Monday.
In addition, Fort Worth police are conducting a "Stop the Madness" detail this weekend, when drinking and driving is believed to be most prevalent.
The detail encompasses additional manpower aimed at finding drunken drivers and a no-refusal program in which search warrants for blood draws are obtained when suspected drunken drivers refuse a breath test.
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