Daytona Beach police officer under investigation for alleged DUI crash

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — A Daytona Beach police officer is under investigation after she was arrested on suspicion of DUI after crashing her personal vehicle into a ditch, Channel 9 has learned.

Officer Shawna Hamel was unsteady on her feet and swayed side to side after allegedly driving drunk.

Witness Genero Carter snapped a cellphone picture of Hamel standing next to her Mustang, which was stuck in a ditch on Bill France Boulevard.

"Immediately when she got out of the car she was a little antsy, you know, just not well put together," said Carter. "I immediately asked her, 'Are you OK? Are you intoxicated?' And she deliberately told me, 'No, I'm not intoxicated.'"

Carter said Hamel was trying to drive her Mustang out of the ditch, but there was no way she was getting out of the mud.

"I said, 'Well, are you sure you’re not intoxicated,’ because she just wasn’t as sharp as, you know, a person who just crashed into a ditch," said Carter.

Police said Hamel missed the turn into her apartment complex. When asked to do field sobriety exercises, they said she stumbled and couldn't keep her balance.

Before the crash Hamel appeared intoxicated at a nearby gas station, two witnesses told police.

In her arrest report Hamel said she had a couple of drinks. When asked if she had been taking narcotics she said she took something for her shoulder.

She's now under investigation and could lose her job.

"It is absolutely absurd though," said Carter. "Here we are, citizens entrusting you to keep our streets safe, and you just crashed a car into a ditch. What if there were pedestrians on the sidewalk?”

WFTV