Reference no: EM131142600

As a patrol officer, you, John Saunders, are only doing your job when you stop a car for running a red light. Unfortunately, the driver of the car happens to be the mayor, Delores Claibourne. You give her a ticket anyway, but the next morning you are called into the captain's office and told in no uncertain terms that you screwed up. There is an informal policy extending "courtesy" to city politicians. Several nights later, you observe the mayor's car weaving erratically across lanes and speeding. You stop the car and walk to the driver's side door. When the mayor, Mrs. Claibourne, rolls down her window, you smell alcohol. You decide to give Mrs. Claibourne a sobriety test, having her walk toe-to-toe in a straight line. She fails the test. You want her to take a breath test voluntarily, but she refuses. Therefore, you place her under arrest and take her to the city jail, where she is held for five hours. Refusal to take a breath test or submit to any type of test that would determine blood-alcohol concentration (BAC) is grounds for suspending one's driver's license. Mayor Claibourne is belligerent the entire time that she is being held and it clear that she is drunk. At some point, she passes out on a cot. While she is unconscious, one of the deputies in charge illegally takes a blood sample from her and has it tested. Mayor Claibourne registers .26 BAC, well over the .08 BAC legal limits for drunken driving charges. You make a note of this in her arrest report, which you file. Eventually, Mayor Claiborne's lawyer arrives and arranges for her release.

The next day, you are called into the chief's office and placed on unpaid suspension for 90 days. You protest the suspension, but the general agreement around the station is that there is nothing you can or should do about it. You return to work and discover that all of your paperwork filed about the drunk-driving incident involving Mayor Claibourne has been destroyed. Her BAC results have also disappeared. No report was ever made to the media about the incident.

Now, please continue on to the discussions.

QUESTION: What ethical dilemmas are created by virtue of the fact that the arrestee is the mayor? Should any special considerations be made for this mayor, given her position? What should the policy be for any elected official in this community?