Aurora’s Civil Service Commission has reinstated a police officer who was fired after he was arrested twice for driving under the influence.
Officer Marc Sears was instead suspended without pay for 1,040 hours, or about six months. The suspension is retroactive to Jan. 5.
Civil Service Commission chairman Dave Williams said Friday that the six-month suspension sends a message to other officers who may decide to get behind the wheel drunk while they are off duty.
“The commission feels police officers need to be held to a higher standard on their conduct,” Williams said. “We didn’t want to give the impression we didn’t take this seriously because we do.”
Sears was arrested by Parker police in March 2010 after he lost control of his vehicle, hit a light pole and rolled. Sears, who was off duty and had been drinking at a local bar, refused a breath test and was subsequently arrested, the commission wrote in its findings.
The arresting officer who testified in court against Sears was found not to be credible and the DUI case was dismissed, although Sears pleaded guilty to careless driving.
The Parker officer later resigned from the force instead of being fired.
Sears had been arrested nine months earlier for DUI and was convicted in that case. He was suspended from the Aurora Police Department for 160 hours. At that time, Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates warned Sears that he would be fired if he had another incident of driving drunk.
Peter Morales, an assistant city attorney for Aurora, did not call Sears to the stand because Sears, if he even showed up, would not be credible.
“Do you let the sideshow take over the circus?” Morales said. “That’s what the tactic was about.”
This was the second time this year the commission overturned a termination by Oates.
In the first case, the commission in January overturned Oates’ decision to fire officer James Waselkow, who was terminated for allegedly using excessive force.
In March, the commission upheld Oates’ termination of former Detective Barry Maul, who called a public defender an “idiot” in open court, then lied about it to a judge.
Carlos Illescas: 303-954-1175 or cillescas@denverpost.com
