INDIANAPOLIS -- An off-duty IMPD officer had a blood alcohol content more than four times the legal limit when he was found passed out in his running vehicle, according to charges filed Friday.
IMPD Lt. Steve King, 50, was taken into custody Wednesday evening after he was found unconscious in the driver's seat of his truck, which was stopped diagonally across both lanes of the road in the 8000 block of Gwin Way with its engine running.
A witness first found King at 6:37 p.m. He attempted to wake King, who was roused briefly but then passed back out, according to a probable cause affidavit.
The witness then called IMPD, which dispatched an officer to the scene. The officer shook King awake, at which point he identified himself as Lt. Steven King of IMPD. King was reportedly unable to stand and had to be help up by the other officer.
According to the probable cause affidavit, King told the officer he had been home taking care of his wife, who'd had surgery, and had drunk some wine. He was "unsure how much wine he drank."
At 8:05 p.m., IMPD Lt. Richard Kivett arrived on scene to take over the investigation. Until that point, King had been sitting in the back of the other officer's police car. He had not yet taken a portable breathalyzer test to determine his BAC.
Kivett then read King his Miranda rights and transported him to Eskenazi Hospital for a blood draw. A registered nurse drew two tubes of blood from King at 8:52 p.m. A breathalyzer test was administered at 9:13 p.m., which showed King had a BAC of .255 percent.
The results of the blood draw determined King had a BAC of .315 percent.
Following those results, King was taken into custody on charges of operating a motor vehicle with a BAC of .15 percent or more and operating a vehicle while intoxicated endangering a person.
IMPD Chief Brian Roach said King had been placed on administrative leave with pay pending the results of the investigation into the case.
