Local officer investigated for DWI

Aug 10, 2008 (The Daily Times - McClatchy-Tribune News Service via COMTEX) -- OSI | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- Aug. 10--FARMINGTON -- A Farmington Police officer is under investigation for DWI after crashing his motorcycle Aug. 2 while driving from a local bar to a restaurant, the San Juan County Sheriff's Office said Friday.

Officer Joshua Calder, 29, left K.B. Dillon's bar Aug. 2 before he lost control of his motorcycle at the intersection of San Juan Boulevard and Tucker Avenue around 11 p.m. The officer was en route to Outback Steakhouse with friends.

"There was some indication there had been alcohol consumed, but no indication of impairment," Sheriff's Capt. Tim Black said. "When we contacted him, he was on a backboard, so no field sobriety test could be done."

Friends of Calder reported he drank one or one and a half beers before driving. The one-vehicle crash was caused by lack of visibility after dirt kicked up by another vehicle clouded the area, Calder told police.

The Sheriff's Office is waiting on results from blood tests to determine whether the officer consumed more than the .08 legal limit. No criminal charges were

filed.

But blood samples were not taken from Calder until two hours, 50 minutes after the crash occurred, Black said. State law mandates alcohol testing be done within three hours for use in DWI investigations because blood-alcohol concentrations may have reduced below an accurate measure of the intoxication level at the time of the incident.

"We try to draw it as soon as we can, but treatment comes first," Black said. "Obviously, the sooner the better."

Blood results will take between two and four weeks to be analyzed.

The officer and his passenger, 25-year-old Danielle Utton, were treated for minor injuries at San Juan Regional Medical Center and released hours later.

Utton told accident investigators Calder was traveling up to 100 mph in the 45 mph-limit zone, the police report states. The officer said he was going "pretty fast" before the accident, but slowed to 45 or 50 mph when he lost control of the motorcycle, the police report states.

An accident reconstruction report to determine Calder's rate of speed at the time of the crash is not completed, Black said.

Calder did not return calls for comment.

Farmington Police Chief Jim Runnels said an administrative investigation of the accident is pending, waiting on the officer's blood test results and the findings of the independent Sheriff's Office investigation.

"He hasn't been relieved of duty, but he's off on sick leave recovering from some minor injuries he sustained," Runnels said. "We're just waiting."

James Monteleone: jmonteleone@daily-times.com

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