POLICE CHIEF NICK METZ SHOULD RESIGN AND HIRE ON AS THE UNION SHOP STEWARD
In an internal email to the Aurora Police Department obtained by ABC News, Police Chief Nick Metz wrote on Friday: “I unequivocally stand by my decision regarding the involved officer.”
“I know cops are human beings. You are not perfect. You are exposed to higher levels of stress and trauma than the general public will ever truly understand,” Metz wrote. “We all know that trauma, suicide, and substance abuse continue to be huge problems in our profession.”
FROM ABC NEWS – Colorado cop won’t face charges
Bodycam footage showed Aurora officer Nathan Meier passed out in his patrol car and a hospital test later revealed a blood alcohol count over five times the legal limit.ABCNews.com
A Colorado district attorney expressed frustration Thursday at not being able to prosecute an Aurora police officer who was found passed out drunk in his car last year, calling the department’s failure to launch a DUI investigation a double standard meant to protect one of its own.
Officer Nathan Meier was found unresponsive in his city-owned police car parked in the middle of an Aurora street on March 29, 2019. Meier was armed and in uniform. Officers, including Deputy Chief Paul O’Keefe who was the first police officer on the scene, reported smelling a faint smell of alcohol on Meier and in his vehicle.
“He’s a little intoxicated,” one lieutenant tells another in a conversation captured on body-worn camera footage.
Despite the apparent signs that the officer was intoxicated, District Attorney George Brauchler says O’Keefe later told internal affairs investigators that he felt he didn’t have enough evidence for a DUI investigation and that he “erred on the side of protecting [Meier].”
“I am incredibly frustrated,” Brauchler said. “Bottom line is if one of us had been in that car, and not officer Nathan Meier, do I think it would it have been treated differently? I do.”
