CINCINNATI -- It's been a bad year for Cincinnati police officers caught drinking irresponsibly.
Officer David Jenkins was arrested in March for drunkenly toting an AR-15 rifle and searching hallways while off-duty; Sergeant Shauna Lambert spent five days in jail last month after drinking "a lot" and sparking an evacuation at a Milford movie theater when she dropped a gun on the floor.
According to court documents, Officer Eric Gilbert joined this dubious club early Sunday morning when he refused a state trooper's chemical test during a traffic stop -- an action which, according to state law, results in a yearlong suspension of the perpetrator's license. Gilbert was cited that night for operating a vehicle under the influence and then allowed to leave with a sober driver.
This isn't Gilbert's first citation for inappropriate drinking, according to Cincinnati Police Department and Fairfield Municipal Court records. Those records indicate he was charged with OVI and convicted of reckless driving in 2013. He was also cited in 2014 for misdemeanor disorderly conduct and pleaded no contest to the charge. Documents obtained by the 9 On Your Side I-Team reveal that CPD gave him a written reprimand for that incident.
CPD spokesperson Tiffaney Hardy confirmed that Gilbert had been cited on Sunday, but did not comment on his standing with the department or whether his license had been suspended as a result of the citation.
Recurring problems with public intoxication aren't unique to officers of CPD. An I-Team investigation found in May that six Hamilton County Sheriff's Department employees -- five of them deputies -- had been charged with operating a vehicle under the influence since 2013, and none of them had been fired.
