By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – The Lewis County sheriff’s deputy charged with driving under the influence asked the trooper who stopped him if she could “work with him” on this, appealing to their shared profession, according to the investigation report.
Deputy Christopher P. Fulton, 31, of Napavine, was arrested early on Saturday morning on Interstate 5 following a traffic stop for speeding and then a conversation at the window of his truck about the alcohol on his breath.
Washington State Patrol Trooper Melody Krenelka said in her report it appeared the deputy was trying to persuade her to treat him preferentially. He was off duty.
“He repeatedly reminded me of his employment,” she wrote. “He expressed offense at the fact that I was calling him sir, reminded me that we ‘work together’ and that he knew me.”
Fulton, a patrol deputy who has worked for the sheriff’s office since April 2008, has been placed on paid administrative leave from his job while the incident is being investigated internally.
He pleaded not guilty on Monday and is free on his personal recognizance awaiting his next court date.
According to Trooper Krenelka, Fulton told her he had a few drinks at the casino but thought he was okay to drive. It was just before 1 a.m. when he passed by where she was parked with a radar gun at end of Centralia’s southbound Mellen Street onramp. She measured his speed at 73 mph in a 60 mph zone, according to the report.
She pulled his truck over about a mile down the freeway and he greeted her by asking if she knew him, telling her he was a Lewis County sheriff’s deputy, according to her report.
Krenelka wrote that his eyes were red and watery and when he declined to step outside for field sobriety tests or provide a breath sample, she called her sergeant at the detachment office to ask if she ought to wait until he arrived to arrest Fulton.
Sgt. Doug Pardue told her to proceed as usual, and Krenelka placed him under arrest for DUI, she wrote.
It was after Fulton was cuffed, read his rights and put in the back of her patrol car that he asked if she would still allow him to do the field tests, according to the report.
His performance was especially poor, given that he is trained in administering the tests, she wrote.
Fulton told her he had drank the last of two beers about an hour earlier before she conducted the preliminary breath test. The PBT reading was .187.
At the jail, his blood alcohol content results were .174 and .172.
The legal limit of an alcohol concentration for driving is .08.
Fulton said he didn’t care to call a lawyer and didn’t want to answer the interview questions in the DUI packet, according to the report.
Trooper Krenelka issued him the citation with a court date, gave him the Department of Licensing paperwork and took him home.
Her report ended with the statement that Fulton was cooperative throughout her contact with him.
Driving under the influence is gross misdemeanor punishable by up to 364 days in jail and or a $5,000 fine.
•••
For background, read “Lewis County deputy pleads not guilty to intoxicated driving” from Tuesday January 7, 2014, here
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter
mbuchanan says:
Sunday, January 12, 2014 at 10:11 am
We are created equal – what would the process be if it was one of us? The process should be at least equivalent.
You missed a lot of the story. He IS being treated as if he is “one of us”. He was arrested, processed as a DUI, presented the citation then given a ride back home while he vehicle was towed and impounded as required by law.
“Will Finn, the WSP public information officer, said the WSP only booked 38 percent of DUI offenders last year and officer’s use discretion, only booking offenders for felonies such as vehicular homicide or other criminal circumstances.”
So, unless your saying that the average person would have attacked the trooper and thus earned getting booked into a jail, I don’t see your point. Where is he being treated differently? Per WSP, he’s being treated EXACTLY like 62% of ALL DUI Arrests in Washington State.
Truly, the only aspect where there is a huge difference is in the press. Most DUI arrests are not front page news, followed with daily updates, cost people their jobs or reflect back on the company they work for. I’ve never seen a headline reading “For the second time in four months, an off work Acme Forestry Worker was arrested for DUI”.
I think that there being two DUI arrests inside the Sheriff Dept. is appalling. I’m not here trying to defend that at all. I’m only pointing out that he is in the process of being treated just like you and I would be. This pathetic whining of “why is he being let off, not held accountable, being treated special, etc.” whimpering is without any merit or basis in fact and only serves to illustrate an already existing bias against cops and the courts.
Read the whole story and wait for the conclusion before trying to accuse anyone of special treatment.
We are created equal – what would the process be if it was one of us? The process should be at least equivalent.
Slowly LCSO gets the Karma coming to them. More to come I am certain. You can’t up hold the law when you start stooping lower then the criminals, as most of LCSO has shown in the past 7 years. Skeletons people, Skeletons.
Good job to the trooper. Seems to me that at least State Patrol are trying to steer clear of the corrupt end of Law Enforcement within this Lame County.
TRUST, FAITH, HONESTY where has it gone?
It is odd that he got a chauffeured ride home…he could of got behind the wheel of another car while he was drunk.
http://www.kirotv.com/news/news/bellevue-officer-dui-case-resigns/nchwW/
I left: It is 100% the fault of the deputy for earning his DUI; no one is disputing that. However, the idea that this deputy can go out on the town, load up on booze, and get behind the wheel of a car rests on his supervisors. If you work for a company that has a no tolerance policy for this type of behavior AND they lead by example this doesn’t happen. Enough said. The sheriff talks the talk but doesn’t walk the walk. It is interesting however that you are defending the the sheriff to this degree. You must either work for him, related to him, live by him or……
I say let him keeping his job, but put a “blow n go” in his patrol car. A year of embarrassing explanations should teach him a lesson not soon forgotten!
This is unfortunate. he made a bad decision to drive or to drink knowing he has to drive.no matter how fa he needed to go..i do no know this officer but we all make mistakes and hopefully get lessons from our mistake..he needs to get the same punishment that others get when drinking and driving .ass far as assuming the penalties what they are going to b .but we do know what word is in assume. I have relative that is in a local department for a long time. we have dicussed this topic and it is a sad situation due to poor and wrong judgement..i do also know that my relations get into very scary situations while wearing thier uniforms. but to bring themselfs into wrong doing on purpose or. on thier own behalf i pray they are wiser. and before anyone states anything about that comment they do not consume alcohol so its not a matter of them being better than anyone..i do also know that many many times they are in harms way get a subject to jail and court system only taps the hand and releases subject. very discouraging..
My hat is off to this officer, it took a lot of guts for her to stand up to the small-town pressure of protecting one of her own. She could easily have just overlooked this incident and sent him on his way; this is what would have happened 20 years ago. Give this woman a promotion.
My husband has a CDL if he is caught drinking and driving anything, a car, truck, boat, motorcycle, on or off the job he loses his job. No paid leave, no retroactive pay, no new job driving, no one wants to hire him his insurance skyrockets, along with all the usual drinking and driving charges that everyone else goes through.. Because he has a CDL all driving infractions are double, if some other driver does something stupid and he is involved in an accident he has to report everything to his employer… Needless to say I do a lot of driving when we are together, for job security… This stuff is drilled into his head, and very important here….. This officer and all law enforcement officers have been schooled on this issue. They also have to responded to many, many tragic accidents that involve alcohol, along with domestic violence involving alcohol and all other issues involving alcohol they have special training on this… This officer’s awareness of the issues is off the charts like everyone involved in law enforcement.. Now I understand why you would probably need a drink after dealing with the crap they deal with but driving in not ok while drinking ever for anyone…
“Lets even the playing field and air the troopers dirty laundry. Its there………..”
Since when is doing her job airing Fulton’s “dirty laundry?” And how does her own past (whatever that might be) change Fulton blowing a .187 in the field test? I hope to God your screen name doesn’t mean you’re a State Patrol trooper yourself, Tacoma Detachment. If you are, you’re part of the problem.
A higher set of standards and penalties should be enforced on any and all Law Enforcement who drink and drive. After all they take an oath to protect and serve their/our community. They have been on scene and personally saw first hand what drinking and driving does. To me that should mean high penalties for their actions…
As for this particular deputy, yes he is young however he has been on the force for 8 years and damn well knew better. That is why he tried to coax the trooper into not doing the job she took and oath to do. Good Job!!!!!
I know several officers and deputies. I have partied with many of them more than once. And let me tell you, most of them have no problem getting shitty ass drunk and then driving. Some have even said, so and so is on duty tonight “its safe”!
In addition to higher stakes the officers,deputies,and troopers (law enforcement) should have to take regular lie detector exams to make sure they are upholding their oath on and off the job. They have to take one prior to employment so why not random ones while employed? May not cure all the problems but just may slow them down..
Lets even the playing field and air the troopers dirty laundry. Its there………..
How do you even arrive at this statement? That’s the dumbest thing I’ve heard this week
Lat’s air the Troper’s dirty laundry? I don’t get that. She was doing her job and handled this professionally.
Hats off the law enforcement officer who arrests a fellow officer when they are breaking the law. That shows true professionalism.
Okay, so a deputy engages in criminal activity on his own time and now it is the sheriff’s fault? Has logic been completely defenestrated?
Any person has the right to refuse to perform field sobriety tests. However, any person driving an automobile has already given their implied consent to a breathalizer test. He refused it at first, making him subject to automatic suspension of his driver’s license. However, the fact he came to his senses on that one while still in the WSP cruises probably saved him on that one.
The information coming out on this one is looking worse for the deputy all the time, but I fail to see how a deputy’s actions off duty are in any way the fault of the sheriff.
Some of you, or even many of you, are acting like the LCSO will hire just about anyone right off the streets. Nothing of the kind is true and you know it. All police officers have to go through strict police academy training, not like in the silly movie, but the real thing. Also, people change. This deputy has been employed almost eight year and is still a youth. Under current civil service rules, very little could be done even if the sheriff had observed changes in his behavior off duty.
Lets even the playing field and air the troopers dirty laundry. Its there………..
Someone else needs to step up to the plate and run for sheriff – No more promoting within. They need new blood in there. Someone who doesn’t have alliances and owe favors. Someone who isn’t currently working for Lewis County in ANY capacity. It sounds like the employees have no respect for their leader. Both Mansfield and Fulton need to turn in their resignation.
Don’t deputies have to take a Civil Service exam to even qualify for a Deputy position? Great screening on the part of Lewis County! Not to mention they have a real PROBLEM recruiting QUALIFIED people! No wonder Lewis County is the LAUGHING STOCK in the great state of Washington! Can it get any worse after all the scandals?? Prouty, Golden, McCroskey, Mansfield, Humphrey, Fulton? The list goes on………….No wonder they call Lewis County the Kingpin of THE GOOD OLE BOY SYSTEM!!!
If there’s any one sentence that proves that drinking compromises your ability to make good decisions it’s this line: …“work with him”…
That appeal to look the other way will be a tough one to explain to his bosses.
Thinking he could use “their” shared profession? lol! And what exactly does Chris Fulton consider a “shared” profession!? What a jerk off! Great job Trooper Melody Krenelka! You just helped this worthless POS fry himself!!! lol lol! This dude NEVER should have been a Deputy! Good going againg Lewis County MORONS! ROLMFAO!!!
Busted! lol!
REALLY!!?? This “off duty” officer tried to persuade the trooper to let him off!? Isn’t that a crime in itself? Then after being cuffed agreeing to the tests? Sounds like he KNEW he was in trouble once being cuffed, and decided to “participate” just to try again by pleading not guilty! He should be treated as any other individual! Fine his ass, can his ass, and take his liscense!! Last thing LC needs is an officer that cannot uphold the LAW, when he knows it like the back of his hand! This is not an oops situation! He knew he was breaking the law by driving drunk! What if he’d killed someone?? Twice the legal limit is a very large level! He better not just get a slap on the hand! This is unfair in sooo many ways! “Cops get off” no fines, no charges, paid leave?? Ridiculous!