Officer in Dezi Freeman search given job back after on-duty drink driving
After rear-ending a vehicle in September last year, the officer blew a 0.07 breath test and told Victoria's police disciplinary board that he drank two "very strong" bourbon and cokes about three hours earlier.
A police officer involved in the chase for Dezi Freeman, who was dismissed for crashing a police vehicle while drunk on duty, has been reinstated to his position. Diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, the officer stated he had difficulty sleeping following Dezi Freeman's murder of two fellow officers. Instead of losing his job, the sergeant will be permanently removed from his specialized unit but remain employed.
The officer was driving a police vehicle with firearms inside when he rear-ended another car near Berwick on September 10, 2023, and blew a 0.07 breath test. He had consumed two strong bourbon and cokes around three hours earlier to help him sleep. The officer, diagnosed with PTSD after almost 20 years in a specialist unit responding to major incidents, explained struggling to sleep in the weeks after learning of Dezi Freeman's murders.
For a police officer to operate a police vehicle while impaired by alcohol is particularly serious, according to the Police Registration and Services Board. Despite this, the officer's psychological evaluations and character references from colleagues did not constitute proof of alcohol addiction. The board acknowledged the impact of his PTSD, fatigue, and heavy workload following the Porepunkah double murder.
The officer was initially dismissed in May but had worked over 68 hours in the following five days, including an 18-hour shift. He also attended the funeral of Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson two days before the collision. The decision to reinstate the officer provides insight into their behavior, which was inconsistent with their previous 25 years of service, likely driven by a health crisis rather than a lack of professional integrity.
Victoria Police had initially sought to uphold the dismissal, but they ultimately decided to remove the officer from his specialized unit, place him in operational training, and require a $2,500 donation to Police Legacy, a charity supporting fallen officers.
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