DETROIT --
A Detroit police officer was suspended Saturday after testing positive for alcohol and a controlled substance following a freeway crash, the department said.
The accident happened Thursday on eastbound Interstate 96 near Martin Luther King Boulevard in Detroit. The officer was pulled from his burning vehicle by a Good Samaritan after crashing into a freeway wall.
Further investigation revealed that at the time of the accident, the officer was under the influence of alcohol and tested positive for a controlled substance, police said.
"I am disheartened that a member of the Detroit Police Department holding a supervisory rank, who has been sworn to protect and serve; and to display the highest level of professionalism, would endanger the lives of others as well as his own," Police Chief Ralph Godbee said in a statement Saturday.
Godbee has ordered the officer to be immediately suspended, and with the concurrence of the Board of Police Commissioners, will seek his suspension without pay.
Copyright 2011 by ClickOnDetroit.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
