ORANGE COUNTY, Fla.,None — WFTV obtained the dash cam video (images | video) Tuesday of an Orange County deputy being tested for drunk driving. Deputy Richard Perez was arrested in Osceola County on Monday, and now he's on desk duty.
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The dash cam video shows Perez being pulled over along the Osceola Parkway. Deputies say he was speeding 20 miles over the limit at the time, but that traffic stop ended with Perez's DUI arrest.
Perez will mark his 6th anniversary with the Orange County Sheriff's Office this week from behind a desk after the traffic stop in Osceola County.
"I can smell that you've been drinking tonight," the deputy tells Perez on the dash cam video. "So, now that my partner's here we're going to go through some sobriety exercises."
On the dash cam video, Perez is shown taking a series of field sobriety tests. In one test, Perez walks nine steps in a line, heel to toe, turns and walks nine more steps.
There were no obvious flubs, but the deputy administering the tests noted the pause around step seven. Perez later blew a .16 and a point .15 during his breath tests.
"What type of disciplinary action could he face?" WFTV reporter Mel Holt asked Cpt. Angelo Nieves, Orange County Sheriff's Office.
"Well, that's all to be determined at the conclusion of our professional standards investigation," he said.
Perez's entire employment history will be taken into consideration in determining what, if any, action is taken. There have been previous complaints, mostly related to the handling of calls. Perez was exonerated in a use of force complaint in 2008, but received a 12-hour suspension without pay in 2009 stemming from an arrest complaint.
And there's still the criminal case regarding the DUI charge. The Osceola County Sheriff's Office says it has handed its case over to the State Attorney's Office.
Meanwhile, Perez can not act as a deputy without an active driver's license.
WFTV asked how many other deputies have been caught driving drunk, or breaking other laws, and whether it cost them their jobs. Officials needed more time to get specifics, but said they investigated code of conduct violations more than 100 times last year and the year before.
Previous Stories: February 22, 2011: Orange Co. Deputy Arrested, Charged With DUI
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