2 Seattle police officers charged with DUI after crash
SEATTLE -- Two Seattle Police Department officers were charged with driving under the influence Thursday stemming from a December incident in which the pair allegedly hit a pole in SODO, switched places and kept driving.
According to the City Attorney's Office, Officer Marie Gochnour and Officer Sean Moore have been reassigned to desk duty from patrol and the K9 unit respectively following the charges.
Gochnour and Moore were arrested while off duty Dec. 17 when someone called 911 to report a car crashing into a pole shortly after midnight near First Avenue South and South Lander Street.
According to the witness, Gochnour got out of the driver's seat after hitting the pole and switched places with Moore before the car drove off.
Officers found Moore and Gochnour parked in the street two miles away with the engine still running, according to the police report from the incident.
According to the report, Gochnour was extremely intoxicated and repeatedly swore at the arresting officer.
At the precinct later, she became even more combative, telling an officer he wasn't a real cop because she had been on the force longer. When he corrected her, telling her he'd actually been on the force much longer, she charged at him and had to be held back, according to the report.
According to the City Attorney's Office, Gochnour's breath test revealed a blood alcohol content of 0.234 and 0.247, approximately three times the legal limit.
Moore blew a blood alcohol content of 0.161 and 0.149, according to the City Attorney's Office.
Desk DUTY? police union at it's best. strip their CCW license, service weapons. I am sure they had weapons on them at time of arrest. Did the arresting officer take their service weapons? they get re assigned? I get a DUI and my job does not give me a desk....I GET FIRED!!
@shunpro  I too am sure that they were carrying weapons while drunk.Â
"Washington state law prohibits weapons such as firearms in portions of an establishment classified by the State Liquor Control Board as off-limits to persons under 21 years of age. This applies to taverns, nightclubs and restaurant lounges.
But law enforcement officers get an exemption, Liquor Control Board spokeswoman Anne Radford said.
Seattle police spokesman Sgt. Sean Whitcomb said thereâs no specific policy about an off-duty officer carrying a gun into a bar.
âWe ask officers to exercise their discretion and good judgment in such matters,â he said.
You can only excersise "good judgement" BEFORE you drink. The first thing that alcohol does is adversely effect your decision making process.
Equal crime, equal penalty.
What a surprise!
Just remember, the City Attorney's Office will find a way to drop the charges.
It occurs to me police brass don't have the Ba _ _ s to solve these problems with rogue officers. Seattle's police department is like a cancer that has riddled our community.Â
Why aren't we seeing their Washington police officer certification revoked. These bad guys are shuffled around on paid administrative leave and allowed to quit with their police officer certification still in tact, when the heat gets turned up too much.
Wow. What a disgrace to the profession.Â
"... have been reassigned to desk duty from patrol and the K9 unit..." Why aren't they in JAIL? "To Protect and ...?
Very few are booked into jail for a DUI. Nearly everyone is taken to a precinct, blows into the tube and is then written a ticket and given a ride home. You get booked into jail and have blood drawn if there's an accident or injury to another party.
@iknowright  There was an accident and they left the scene of it.
@iknowright  This wasnt just DUI. This was also hit and run and according to the article, she became "combative". That normally means she resisted arrest and possibly assaulted another officer.  I assume they just let that slide since she was a cop.Â
but it wasnt involving another car/people. a single vehicle accident isnt the same.
Yeah you know the officer is drunk when she's talking smack at their fellow officers.
This fish is rotting from the head on down. Time to bring in the brooms and get rid of the chief and most of the crusty-uppers in this department. I feel for many of the honest, hard working rank and file. They need leaders that lead. Enough.. I don't care about anyone's tenure... time for a THOROUGHLY clean sweep. Hear that Mayor McSchwinn?
@B747-8i The rot always starts at the top and trickles down.Â
And why do these two idiots still have jobs?
These two clowns still have a job as Cops? Here is what public sector unions bring you folks, how do you like it?
Is it "don't do as I do, do as I say"??? Is that the message they were trying to get across to the public? Let us see, DUI, leaving the scene of an accident, tampering with evidence and I will bet I could find more violations if I looked a little harder. It is bad enough that we have way too many civilians drink driving out there without the cops adding to the mess. This is way over the top for SPD. These two should be fired, no time off, no pat on the hand, but fired.
Looks like Officer Decker is the only one involved that seemed to know how to do the right thing:
http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/dailyweekly/2013/03/seattle_police_officers_marie_gochnour_sean_moore_charged_with_misdemeanor_dui.php
Ain't public unions grand? Your tax dollars at work people.Â
@lakeview I was waiting for someone to turn this into a Union issue instead of a moron issue. Would your boss even know if you got a DUI?
@thebigteacher @lakeview He's usually wrong but in this instance he is closer to the truth than you think. The police unions make it very hard for cities and even department heads to eliminate problems like these two officers. Unions have some good merits but far too often they protect the lazy, incompetent or downright dangerous workers in their positions....so long as they tow the union party line, and vote Democrat.
@scared_citizenShe is no longer a cop. I was simply offering a look from the inside which is more reasonable then the outlandish speculation that goes on here.
As to banning all government Unions; why can't those workers have the same rights as private ones? After all are you not afraid of the Government treating you wrong?
For thought is an interesting neutral report on private verses public wages:
http://www.epi.org/page/-/img/010511-tablel.jpg
Keep in mind there are a lot of creative biased reports showing the opposite.
@thebigteacher  As soon as you said "My wife was a cop for 9 years", you lost all creditbility. You can not be unbiased because as they say "you have a dog in the fight". I am not "powerful" and I dont mind Unions for the PRIVATE sector (after all, unions helped get laws passed to protect employees from ruthless employers) but why would you need a Union to protect you from the government itself? The reason is so that the body of employees can blackmail a local government by striking and thus taking way  essential services like Police, Fire Fighters, Teachers, etc. BAN ALL GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEE UNIONS.
@dg54321 @thebigteacher @lakeview My wife was a cop for 9 years. During that time we watched them come and go. It is not hard to fire a cop, you simply need just cause and to follow due process. The powerful hate Unions and they have done an excellent job vilifying them. Union membership is under attack and are at a 40 year low. Yet many on this forum believe in their marrow that Unions are the root of all our problems. Unions are the only hope for the middle class.
Wow. Stay classy SPD!
Where's are their mugshots anyway?
why does it take almost 3 months?
Because they wanted to see if they could just sweep it under the rug. Apparently, professionalism may win. Who would've thought that anhyone at SPD could be professional (even though it did take 3 months).
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@Mike you are provoking grammar nazis - you know that ;-)
@Komo Dragon This time I won't bite. I learned my lesson.
@GOATCUTTER oh come on...........lets see if we can get you going.............you know you want to............. Sorry, couldn't resist.
Considering they are the ones our tax dollars are paying to enforce our laws, perhaps they should have to face twice the penalities of an average citizen.  Of course that will never happen, but at the bare minimum they should have been fired.  It's ridiculous that they still have their jobs. Clearly they are not fit to enforce the laws if they can't follow them, themselves.
Sounds like 3 crimes committed. DUI, leaving the scene of an accident and assaulting an officer which is a felony. Must be nice to have a union that runs the police dept and says these crooks get to continue to work and get paid. Too bad we all didn't enjoy those privileges of entitlement.
@BlindmanÂ
I agree. Anyone who has read my posts knows I often show empathy for the problems police face on duty, but with these two and with it being an off-duty incident, I think it's imperative that the police treat them exactly as they would any ordinary citizen, if not more severely. Otherwise, they will be proving that the badge gets you a free pass with certain crimes. As Blindman suggests, they should charge Gochnour with 3 crimes and Moore with DUI. And, if convicted, they should no longer be on the force. And no plea deals. Make an example of them.
Dang, almost two weeks had gone by before we read another feel good story about SPD...
It makes me wonder if any DUI arrests she had made could be appealed? Even a cheap Defense lawyer could show she doesn't have the ability to decide impairment levels. I'm not saying they should, it just opens up huge liability for their department.
This is the type of individual SPD wants on the Police Force?Reassignment huh? That's about par for the course with this bunch. Â FIRE THEM!! I believe all this time has passed so reports can get lost and procedures are compromised, then they are back on the streets being the fine cops they are.
@zulu I vote for a harsher punishment! Give them the same punishment that everyone else gets. Just because they are police, they don't have a license/exception when it comes to breaking the law. No person is above the law.... they need to be a lot more accountable then an "office job." What a joke! Sounds like a freakin vacation to me.Â
Idiots, and you didn't even get charged- lucky break! If it was a normal person, it'd be the standard punishment- $5,000 fine, jail time, loss of license and I think you take classes to... don't know, never gotten a DUI. But come on, let the Cops skate on this... they should be charged just like everyone else. Demotion, Ha! They paid someone off or kissed some judges butt real good.Â
@keepthepeace28  What article did you read? This one has a headline that says they were charged and then the first paragraph said the same thing. I doubt the article was updated in the 11 minutes since your post till my post.
Take me drunk officer, I am home....
@boxerdoggin Just let me put my pants back on.
@boxerdoggin Are you serious right now? Come on, not the police lol.Â
What about the resisting arrest? Hit and run? Leaving the scene of an accident?
@Mr. HÂ Â All will be swept under the rug as long as they promise never to do it again.
Idiots
And it took almost three months to charge them because????????
Job opening, inquire to the SPD....
Way to be a shining example of female officers everywhere. They should both just be canned from the force and thrown in jail for DUI. No preferential treatment.
FÂ Â Â Â it get rid of them don"t miss with court