A Miami-Dade police officer who was found in his squad car half-dressed and unresponsive eventually told police he was unconscious, not because he was drunk, but because of a sports injury he received more than a decade ago.
Officer Fernando Villa, 32, was arrested last week after another officer found him drunk and passed out in his cruiser. The officer called for medical assistance when he realized Villa was unresponsive. The official police report says that when Villa awoke, the officer who had stopped to check on him encountered a very strong smell of alcohol and had Villa perform a roadside sobriety test.
Villa, who was off-duty at the time, failed miserably, but said it was not because he was drunk. He claimed his altered consciousness was due to a baseball injury he’d suffered at least 13 years prior while he was in high school. He then refused to take any additional sobriety tests.
Though he was determined to be intoxicated, Villa was not arrested, but instead allowed to go home after signing a form saying he would appear in court.
