Two University Police officers who took five or six cases of energy drinks from a Red Bull delivery car after a traffic stop last week will be disciplined for violating department gift policies but did not receive the drinks as a bribe, police said.
The officers, in two cars, stopped a Red Bull Mini Cooper on Preinkert Drive last Thursday night after believing the driver was not wearing a seat belt, police said.
The three cars pulled up outside South Campus Commons Building 5 and the officers approached opposite windows of the Red Bull Mini. When the officers returned to their patrol cars, one leaned into the passenger-side window of the other’s cruiser.
The two officers then returned to the Mini — at which point, police said, they issued the driver a written warning for a seat belt violation. Then, the Red Bull driver got out of her car and began handing the officers cases of the drink, which they stowed in the back seats of their cruisers.
The department opened an administrative review into the officers’ conduct Friday morning after The Diamondback asked about the incident. Maj. Chris Jagoe, who conducted the review, said the officers and the Red Bull driver independently told investigators the driver offered the drinks only after she received her warning.
“The driver was very clear to me that at no time the officers asked for anything,” Jagoe said. “She offered to give them some of the Red Bull so they could take it back to the station and distribute it to the officers.”
As part of the review, Jagoe also reviewed surveillance video of the scene that showed the driver giving away Red Bull to two pedestrians after the traffic stop before driving away.
Jagoe and University Police Chief David Mitchell described the incident as “a teachable moment” for the police force.
“Let me say I’m satisfied this was not a situation where this young lady was giving Red Bull to get out of a ticket,” Mitchell said. “It doesn’t make it right, however, I have to say that these officers are good troops. They’re experienced troops. They are humiliated by what happened. I am confident this will never happen again.”
As a result of the incident, Jagoe said every department employee will receive a memo reminding them of department rules on receiving gifts.
“It’s something they just need to know: That on traffic stops, you just can’t accept gifts like that because of that perception,” Jagoe said. “It just looks like there’s some impropriety taking place, and we don’t want that, and the officers don’t want that. And they certainly weren’t thinking about that when it took place. But in retrospect, they clearly saw that.”
Jagoe would not identify the two officers or specify what punishment they would face.
And the Red Bull?
“It was destroyed,” Mitchell said.
holt at umdbk dot com
