A former Pima County sheriff’s detective who resigned last fall after he allegedly came to work intoxicated is also at risk of losing his law enforcement certification, officials say.
In a Wednesday meeting of the Arizona Peace Officers Standards and Training Board, members voted to initiate proceedings against John McClendon Jr., board spokeswoman Sandy Sierra said in an email.
In April 2015, and again in September, McClendon failed breath tests shortly after starting his shift, documents obtained by the Arizona Daily Star show.
During a burglary unit meeting at 9 a.m. April 13, another deputy noticed that McClendon smelled like alcohol, the document says.
The deputy alerted his supervisor, who also noticed the odor of alcohol coming from McClendon, and administered a breath test at 9:45 a.m., which came back at 0.071, the document says. That’s slightly below the state’s blood-alcohol concentration limit of 0.08 to be considered legally drunk while operating a vehicle.
McClendon’s blood-alcohol concentration increased to 0.094 by the time he took a second test in the department’s lab a little more than an hour later, the document shows.
He told investigators he’d drank a bottle of tequila and six beers between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. that morning, then drove to work in his department vehicle, the document says.
“McClendon told investigators he had responded to call-outs after drinking on approximately five occasions and knew he was intoxicated on a recent call-out, as well as several times in the past,” the document says.
He said that he’d been drinking heavily for years and that alcoholism ran in his family, before he asked for help dealing with his problem, the document says.
McClendon was suspended for 15 days, placed on a program that subjected him to random monthly breath tests, ordered to complete alcohol counseling and reassigned to the civil division, according to the document.
Less than six months later, on Sept. 21, McClendon’s supervisor sent him a text message at 8 a.m., to ensure that he’d be back to work following a two-week vacation. The supervisor asked that he come see him at the start of his shift at 2 p.m., according to the document.
McClendon was given breath tests at 2:19 p.m. and 2:21 p.m., and his results were a 0.126 and 0.138, the document says.
McClendon resigned later in the day.
