An Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officer was arrested overnight after allegedly driving a marked police vehicle while intoxicated.
According to IMPD, just after midnight on Oct. 27, officers responded to the 1500 block of Stadium Way, near West 16th and North Harding streets just west of downtown, for a report of trouble with a person. They found officer Chaise Watkins, 31, trying to park at an apartment complex there, observed signs of intoxication and notified a supervisor.
Watkins was arrested on preliminary charges including operating a vehicle while intoxicated endangering a person and operating a vehicle while intoxicated with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.15 percent or higher, both Class A misdemeanors. Investigators allege a blood draw at a nearby hospital showed a concentration above 0.15 percent; Indiana's legal limit is 0.08 percent. The charges are allegations and have not been proven in court.
Chief Tanya Terry has placed Watkins on administrative leave with no police powers, the department said. At the time of the initial reports, the Marion County Prosecutor's Office had not filed formal charges, and Watkins remained in the Marion County Jail on Tuesday morning, according to online records.
Watkins has been with the department for three years and was most recently assigned to the North District. Court records cited in reporting show he was convicted of operating a vehicle while intoxicated in Clay County in 2018, in what records described as a first offense that did not endanger others.
