TWINSBURG, Ohio — Investigators are currently reviewing the situation after a Cleveland police captain was pulled over for suspected drunk driving late Christmas night.
The Twinsburg police department says it received a 911 call for a "possible impaired driver" on Interstate 480 eastbound around 11:21 p.m. Residents reported that the gray Toyota Tacoma was "swerving all over" the highway, driving on the shoulder, and that it did not stop even though other drivers were flashing their lights.
Officers pulled the car over about a half-mile before State Route 82, and identified the driver as Capt. John Sotomayor. Police say the car was towed from the scene, and Sotomayor was allowed to call his wife to pick him up. Court records do not show the officer facing criminal charges at this time.
Twinsburg police released bodycam footage of the incident (with Sotomayor's face blurred out). On the video, one of the officers can be heard telling Sotomayor, "We can smell alcohol in the car. We're trying to give you a break here...I don't want to have to put you in handcuffs and take you to jail." Another later said to her fellow officer, "I'd rather turn him in. I feel like...I don't agree with it...he's hammered."
"He needs to be held accountable, and that's why I'm mad," the same officer later said during a debate about whether to report Sotomayor to his superior. "I don't play favorites, but being in the position that [he's] in is absolutely unacceptable while driving."
The officer later did call the supervisor, and in a voicemail said they were giving Sotomayor a "courtesy" but would be taking his police-issued weapon that was loaded on his hip. Before the phone call, she could also be heard saying, "What are these Cleveland guys doing? This is the second one."
You can see the bodycam footage of the entire incident in the player below:
The names of the officers who pulled Sotomayor over have not been released. Twinsburg is currently conducting an "internal review" to see if all department protocols were followed.