Technically she was charged with an "OWI," which stands for "operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated," but that's Iowa's version of an ordinary drunk-driving charge. What's extraordinary about this case is that the offender is an investigator for the Illinois State's Attorney's Office (Tribune).
Her passenger was a Forest Park, Illinois police officer and the two of them were attending a class at the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy. After they were pulled over for speeding (64 mph in a 35 mph zone), Mary Sarna told the cop she was an investigator and had a gun, while her passenger showed him his badge.
The article doesn't say exactly what they were studying at the academy, but perhaps it was something other than drunk driving laws.
Polk County Sheriff's Deputy Jana Rooker had a few words to say about her colleagues from Illinois:
"Hopefully (Sarna) is going to learn from that mistake, but yeah, it's disappointing because I think as law enforcement officers we know we're held to a little higher expectation."
Well, maybe Rooker hasn't been to Chicagoland lately, where police behavior has been under scrutiny for years. Rooker also suggested that the passenger was attempting to use his badge as leverage, hoping for leniancy. No such luck:
"That... is a little disappointing because you would hope that (someone who is stopped is) not going to try to use anything to deter the officer from making the same kind of judgement (the officer) would otherwise."
Sarna failed three field sobriety tests and refused a breathalyzer test. She was arrested and held on a $1,000 bond.
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Cop DUIs: 13 Chicago Police Officers Arrested For Drunk Driving In 2008 (Huffington Post)
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Chicago DUI Lawyers (FindLaw)
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