From Times Union
ALBANY — An off-duty Albany police officer arrested for DWI in Menands last December was allowed to have police union representatives present for his arrest who then advised him not to take a chemical test due to his intoxicated condition.
The officer, Brian Lutz, remains suspended and his criminal case is pending. Lutz was handcuffed to a bench in the Menands police station when Christian Mesley, then Albany Police Officers Union president, and another off-duty Albany officer, Charles Batchelor, were allowed to stay with Lutz while he was booked in a process that took more than two hours. Mesley told Lutz he was unlikely to receive leniency from Albany County District Attorney David Soares, according to a police videotape…..MORE