Recent Ocean City Officer of the Year Arrested for DUI

State Troopers recently arrested an Ocean City police officer for numerous traffic violations including DUI and reckless driving.  The 28-year-old officer, who is a member of the Traffic Safety Unit, was honored as the 2024 Officer of the Year at a ceremony on February 8, 2025.  Exactly one year later he was arrested for drunk driving at 3 a.m. down by the boardwalk.  The full details of the arrest are not part of the public record at this time, as DUI cases are generally initiated by serving citations upon the driver and then releasing him or her to a sober friend or family member.  A driver who is charged with DUI by way of citation will be arrested but not booked into the local jail. Therefore, the arresting officer is not required to generate a statement of charges that would establish probable cause for the arrest.  These statement of charges documents describe the criminal incident and are part of the public record.  They are required in order for a defendant to be booked into jail with a few exceptions to include failure to appear or probation violation bench warrants and arrest warrants.  Statement of charges documents can be viewed at the courthouse by any member of the public as long as the defendant is not under the age of 18.  This of course includes the media, who often obtain statements by going to the closest courthouse and printing them out at the clerk’s office.  In this particular case we will likely have to wait until a court appearance to find out what exactly transpired at 3 a.m. in downtown Ocean City this past weekend, as the only documents in the court file in this type of case would be the citations.  Since the defendant is a police officer there was a request to shield his address from the public record, so the public would likely not be able to even view the original citations.

What we do know is the officer was charged with a total of seven traffic violations.  Three of these violations carry jail time, with the DUI charge having the highest maximum penalty of up to one year in jail.  The officer is facing up to 60 days in jail for DWI and reckless driving.  The remaining four citations carry a fine and possible points, as they are all classified as moving violation including driving the wrong way down a one-way street, which is a common cause for a DUI traffic stop in Ocean City, Baltimore City and downtown Frederick where numerous one-way streets tend to confuse buzzed drivers.  As a member of the Traffic Safety Team, the officer/defendant was tasked with overseeing collision reconstruction investigations.  In 2024 he issued more than 500 traffic citations and 300 warnings to go along with his 62 arrests.

Like most cases where police officers have been charged, the local State’s Attorney’s Office has recused itself from the prosecution due to the relationship between the OCPD and the Worcester County SAO.  The Caroline County State’s Attorney’s Office has stepped in to handle the prosecution and the main district court judge in Snow Hill has recused himself due to the fact that he is a former Worcester County prosecutor.  A visiting judge will likely preside over the case when the trial date rolls around.  The Blog will continue to follow this and may post a follow up article after the case is resolved.  If the officer is found guilty or granted probation before judgement for DUI or DWI he will be required to install an interlock device on his vehicle and obtain a restricted ‘interlock only” license.  He may be able to obtain a work exception that would allow him to drive a police cruiser without interlock, but it is unclear whether the Ocean City Police Department would allow this.  It does not seem like a good look to have an officer who is on DUI probation and a restricted license to be driving a police vehicle around town.  Maybe there will be an opening on the bike patrol, or maybe he’ll put up a good defense.  Benjamin Herbst is a  Maryland DUI lawyer who handles drunk driving cases in all jurisdictions across the state and in federal court.  In addition to successfully defending those with no prior record, he specializes in representing out-of-state drivers charged with DUI and repeat offenders.  Worcester County is very proud of its DUI conviction rate, though Benjamin earned a 30 minute not guilty verdict in his last Snow Hill DUI jury trial.  Contact Benjamin anytime for a free consultation at 410-207-2598.

Resources:

OCPD 2024 Officer of the Year Arrested for DUI, Reckless Driving, wmdt.com.