CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department officer was arrested Wednesday and charged with driving while impaired, according to CMPD.
Officer Jared Whitner, 30, was charged. He was hired by CMPD on Jan. 22, 2007 and was assigned to patrol in the Westover division.
Whitner was placed on paid administrative leave pending a criminal and internal investigation.
"The CMPD will continue to hold our officers to the highest standards and accountable for their actions. This is an extremely dangerous offense and something we as an organization will not tolerate," said CMPD Chief Rodney Monroe in a statement.
DWI defense attorney Brad Smith said traditionally officers were only arrested or charged if they were caught breaking the law outside the CMPD jurisdiction.
“The fact that CMPD has stopped and arrested one of its own for DWI tells me that the goal of making sure that everybody is treated the exact same way is starting potentially to be met,” Smith said.
Whitner has been added to the list of officers arrested over the past six months -- six arrests total.
CMPD arrested their own and in more than half of those cases.
“It lends a lot of credibility to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department that they have charged and arrested one of their own for a criminal offense,” Smith said.
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