San Antonio Police Office Charged with Speeding and DWI

It was not a routine traffic stop once San Antonio police officers unknowingly pulled over one of their own, driving in his own vehicle after officers witnessed him speeding at 100 miles an hour and swerving on Loop 410 in San Antonio Texas this morning around 3 am.

SAPD officials said Officer Rafael Hernandez III, 26, was arrested around 3 a.m. Thursday after he was pulled over and given a DWI evaluation.

KSAT12 is reporting that a San Antonio police officer who was speeding at 100 miles per hour and swerving on Loop 410 has been charged with driving while intoxicated, according to authorities.

Hernandez, who has worked with SAPD for three years, was seen swerving into the shoulder along the westbound lanes of Northwest Loop 410 and Interstate 10 West, police said.

The officer who pulled Hernandez over “determined that Hernandez was impaired” by administering a DWI evaluation, according to SA Current, and placed him under arrest, according to the KSAT 12 news release.

It has been reported that Hernandez will be placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of criminal and administrative investigations.

You might be wondering how often police officers are arrested yearly on a national scale.

In a study conducted in 2016 at the request of the U.S. Department of Justice which you can read here, police officers are arrested about 1,100 times a year, or roughly three officers charged every day throughout the U.S. The most common crimes were simple assault, drunken driving, as well as aggravated assault.

This is the second DWI arrest of a police officer in San Antonio in less than a month. Sergeant Glenn Michalec was arrested Sunday, Sept. 27. He has been with the SAPD for 29 years.

According to DWI-Texas.com, after your first DWI offense in Texas, Texans may be fined up to $2,000 and spend between three and 180 days in jail.