Sergeant's Release Following DUI Stop Raises Suspicion

In Volusia County, Florida, an internal affairs investigation has been launched to examine the circumstances surrounding Officer Chris Selander's release of Sergeant Kenneth Vickery following a DUI traffic stop. It has been revealed that Officer Selander was aware of Sergeant Vickery's intoxicated condition and chose not to charge him with driving under the influence.

According to reports, at about 1:20 a.m. on Sunday, November 2, Officer Chris Selander came across two individuals sleeping on the beach at Oceanview Avenue, one of which he recognized as Seargent Kenneth Vickery. At the time, Officer Selander noted a strong odor of alcohol emitting from Vickery's and his companion's mouth. After waking the two individuals, Officer Selander instructed the two to stay on the beach in order to avoid a potential driving under the influence charge. However, Sergeant Vickery did not heed this advice and was observed by Officer Selander a short while later driving north on South Atlantic in his 1999 Ford truck.

After recognizing Sergeant Vickery's vehicle, he chose to follow him, where he subsequently observed Vickery's truck cross over the white shoulder line three separate times and swerve onto the grassy shoulder four additional times. Officer Selander finally decided to pull Sergeant Vickery over after watching him cross the double yellow line numerous times, calling in for backup from Sergeant Greg Miles. Officer Selander provided no explanation for this atypical request for reinforcement.

An audiotape of the traffic stop which was recently released by law enforcement revealed that Officer Selander was aware that Sergeant Vickery was intoxicated and that he chose to release him without charging him with driving under the influence. On the tape, Officer Selander addressed Sergeant Vickery, stating, "Sergeant Greg Miles is going to come and get you. I'm not going to arrest you. You can relax. You know you've been drinking probably a little too much. I saw the alcohol in the car. I can smell it."

Several minutes later, the tape reveals that Sergeant Vickery became hostile, arguing that he had done nothing wrong and insisting that he had not crossed any lines on the road, hadn't swerved, and had not been speeding. When asked how many drinks he had consumed that night, Sergeant Vickery responded, "Before I got in my truck or after I got in my truck?"

This interaction continued for several more minutes with Officer Selander threatening several times to place Sergeant Vickery under arrest, stating, "Yeah, you can apologize in my jail cell. I'm getting real tired. You can still get a bunch of tickets. So change your attitude real quick because this whole thing is being recorded. I'm going to document everything." However, after everything was said and done, Sergeant Vickery was only cited for an improper lane change, without any mention of driving under the influence charges.

Despite these serious allegations, neither Sergeant Vickery nor Officer Selander have been placed on leave while the internal affairs investigations are being conducted.

This incident is only one of many recent reports of police officers concealing the drunk driving of fellow officers, which leads on to question the fairness and impartiality of the criminal justice system as a whole.

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