Fayette | News

Fayette court security chief suspended for Coweta DUI

Tue, 09/26/2006 - 3:45pm
By: John Munford

A long-time deputy who heads up courthouse security for the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office has been suspended for 15 days without pay after he was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol in Coweta County more than a week ago, said Fayette County Sheriff Randall Johnson.

Capt. Larry Whitlock must also attend an alcohol treatment program, but he has not been demoted, Johnson said.

“He made an error in judgment,” Johnson said, noting that Whitlock has been with the sheriff’s department for quite some time.

According to a report from the Coweta County Sheriff’s Department, Whitlock was driving a 2003 Chevy Silverado when he was encountered at a road checkpoint on Friday, Sept. 15 at 10:25 p.m. As Whitlock pulled forward, his car touched the double yellow line two times, the report indicated.

According to the report, Whitlock said he had a couple of beers at dinner, and he appeared to be leaning on the vehicle to steady himself initially.

Whitlock was arrested after his breath test on a desktop intoxilyzer machine registered .107 blood alcohol content, which is above the legal limit of .08 under Georgia law.

The Coweta sheriff’s report indicated that it took several attempts to register Whitlock’s breath reading on the scene with a portable machine “due to Mr. Whitlock placing his tongue over the end of the tube preventing air to be examined.”

An eye gaze test, also used to determine whether or not a driver is impaired, was also administered on the scene, but one of the benchmarks could not be observed because “Mr. Whitlock failed to comply with instructions to complete this test.”

“During the entire interview Mr. Whitlock was having trouble keeping his balance and seemed to stumble and sway,” the report stated.

The report said there was an open container of beer in the truck but the deputy was told the beverage belonged to a passenger.

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No special treatment
Submitted by Kathleen on Thu, 09/28/2006 - 1:05am.

I hope this guy is not given any special treatment. I know people make mistakes, but for a member of law enforcement to make this kind of mistake is bad. I mean if he tried to put his tongue over the tube on the alcohol test and had an open container of beer in his car, even though he claimed it was not his, he knew better. People who are not members of law enforcement lose their jobs for this. People die from being hit by people who drive drunk.

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yes special treatment
Submitted by chill on Tue, 10/03/2006 - 2:33pm.

Katt, don't be naive, special treatment in law enforcement is a way of life. The motto should be "to protect yourself and serve your own". Don't even think about trying for a job in LE if you have a DUI, they try to make those of us with clean records out to be criminals. Silly and inaccurate CVSA's and Polygraphs, CBI's and rediculous interview questions. However, once your in and held to a higher standard, it is OK to DUI, you just made a mistake. Please, a 22 year old makes mistakes not a Captain (regardless of what is going on in his personal life). Also, they are never fired. They are asked nicely to resign and then go to work for another department. Example: Former Tyrone PD's K-9 Officer Sgt. Edens, got DUI in PTC after being pulled for a noise violation in the AM hours, he went on to Riverdale PD. It is a culture of Us v. Them, and if your not one of us you are one of them. This needs to change! By the way, people don't die b/c of drunk drivers, they are KILLED by drunk drivers-there is a difference.

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Spextor's mistakes; law stress.
Submitted by MWF on Tue, 10/03/2006 - 10:11pm.

(1) The officer you refer to was not employed by Tyrone, it was another nearby city.
(2) He does not work for Riverdale, although he is working for another city.

I could fill in the blanks, but if you really want to know you can do your own research. This is a good example of not taking everything your read on this website as being true and correct facts.

FYI regarding special treatment: Trust me, not all officers receive special treatment. I am not referring to any specific case, but quite often if you are a "kiss up" you can get away with improper conduct, whereas a truly dedicated and hardworking officer with many years experience can be terminated just because the chief didn't like the way he combed his hair that day. Sometimes you may have a chief who is on a power trip over his own employees and/or does not want anyone in the department who is smarter than him. There is no appreciation from superiors for being honest and fair or for having the ability to think for yourself. The greatest stress for law enforcement officers comes from within their own department. It is very discouraging.

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