UPDATE, MARCH 28, 5:25 P.M.: Long Beach police officer Eddie Sanchez has been convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol and weaving in and out of
traffic lanes the afternoon of May 24, 2010, in Garden Grove.
The 30-year-old, who was off-duty at the time of the boozy driving, pleaded guilty Friday to one misdemeanor of
driving with a blood alcohol level of .08 percent or more. He was
sentenced to 20 days of community service, three years of informal
probation, three months of first offender alcohol awareness courses, and
was ordered to attend a Mothers Against Drunk Driving victim impact
panel.
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ORIGINAL POST, OCT. 19 2010, 8:30 A.M.: You know what's embarrassing? Being so drunk that, after weaving in and out of traffic lanes, you stop at a green light and after honking vehicles stacking up behind you can't get you to budge, a driver gets out of his car, walks over to your car and shuts off your engine.
You know what's really embarrassing? If the rummy is a Long Beach police officer.
Check out the Orange County District Attorney's Office statement on this morning's arraignment of 30-year-old Eddie Sanchez below:
October 18, 2010
LONG BEACH POLICE OFFICER TO BE ARRAIGNED FOR DRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF ALCOHOL
WESTMINSTER – A Long Beach police officer will be arraigned tomorrow on
charges of driving under the influence of alcohol and weaving in and out
of traffic lanes. Eddie Sanchez, 30, is charged with one misdemeanor
count each of driving under the influence of alcohol and driving with a
blood alcohol level of .08 percent or more with a sentencing enhancement
allegation for having a blood alcohol level of .15 percent or more. If
convicted, Sanchez faces a maximum sentence of six months in jail. He is
scheduled to be arraigned tomorrow, Oct. 19, 2010, at 8:30 a.m. in
Department W-1, West Justice Center, Westminster.
At approximately 4:30 p.m., on May 24, 2010, Sanchez is accused of
consuming several alcoholic beverages at a bar in Long Beach. He is
accused of leaving the bar to go to a friend's house in Stanton. The
defendant is accused of driving under the influence of alcohol, stopping
his 2003 Nissan Altima at green lights, and weaving in and out of
traffic lanes. While waiting at a red light, Sanchez is accused of not
moving when the light turned green. After several vehicles behind the
defendant honked their horns, the driver behind Sanchez got out of his
car, walked over to the driver's side of the Nissan and turned off the
engine.
A witness called 911 and Garden Grove police arrived at the scene. The
defendant is accused of performing poorly on his Field Sobriety Test and
exhibiting signs of intoxication including slurred speech and emitting
an odor of alcohol from his breath. At the time of the arrest, Sanchez
is accused of having a blood alcohol level of .16 percent, two times the
legal limit.
Deputy District Attorney Michael Pevney is prosecuting this case.
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.