HAZELWOOD, Mo. — Body cam footage shows an O'Fallon police officer administering a breath test to one person he probably never expected to stop for suspected drunk driving.
"Chief of Hazelwood, he is hammered drunk right now," the O'Fallon officer said in the footage.
Hazelwood police Chief Gregg Hall was pulled over on May 28 for weaving on the road.
She says members of law enforcement are rarely prosecuted for alleged crimes committed on the job. This case is different and there's video.
In the body camera footage, the officer asked him to recite the alphabet first, before using a breathalyzer, to which Hall's lawyer Travis Noble contests.
"In Missouri, you have to have a 15 minute observation period and you have to have an inspection of the mouth before that begins, and this is a portable breath test, which is different from an evidentiary breath test. Portable breath tests, they're generally not as reliable," Noble said.
The sergeant from the O'Fallon Police Department arrived shortly after the breath test.
"He's over two," the officer said to the sergeant, referring to the result of the breathalyzer.
"Balanced tests that police officers are trained to give, they're also taught that there are certain people that aren't candidates for the test," Noble said.
In the footage, Hall told the officer during the field test that he had bad ankles. The officer asked how old he was, to which Hall responded, "66."
"Anybody who is 65 years of age or older, fifty pounds or more overweight or a person suffering from ankle, knee, hips, back or inner ear problems are not a candidate for those tests," Noble said.
When asked if an arrest was made, Noble answered, "My understanding there was no arrest. Supervisors were contacted and then ultimately the chief of O'Fallon arrived on scene and then gave Chief Hall a ride home."
In the video, when then-O'Fallon police Chief John Neske arrived, he's seen hugging Hall before talking to one of the officers privately. He walked over to the responding officer and said, "He and I are going to have a long talk on the way home."
"There's not evidence that he was intoxicated in this case. There were field sobriety tests that weren't done correctly, to put somebody who shouldn't be taking them. You have a preliminary breath test that wasn't done correctly and there is no blood test or evidentiary breath test to indicate that he was over the legal limit and he was driving while impaired," Noble said.
The City of Hazelwood responded to our requests saying this was a personnel matter and there would be no public comment at this time.
Hall told the officer he was nine months away from retirement.
He's been with the department for 43 years and took over as chief in 2013.