No DUI charge for Spokane detective

A district court judge determined Monday there was not enough evidence to charge a Spokane police detective with driving under the influence and dismissed the case.

The Spokane County Prosecutor’s Office apparently agreed, said Chris Phelps, attorney for Detective Jeff Barrington.

“That’s justice,” Phelps said.

And now, Spokane Police Guild President Ernest Wuthrich says a Washington State Patrol trooper made a bad arrest. While he stopped short of calling for Trooper Troy Corkins’ job, Wuthrich noted that he’s seen officers fired for such mistakes in the past.

“If you don’t have probable cause, you don’t make an arrest,” said Wuthrich, a detective.

Phelps appeared Monday with Barrington before Spokane County District Court Judge Richard White to argue there should never have been an arrest in the first place. White decided in a flash.

Barrington was pulled over early Friday after Corkins noticed the detective’s car had no front license plate and was going 5 to 6 mph over the speed limit, officials said. Barrington was in a city police undercover car.

According to Trooper Mark Baker, a WSP spokesman, Corkins smelled alcohol and asked Barrington to do a field sobriety test, but the detective refused. Although refusing to take a breath test is grounds for driver’s license revocation, the same is not true for a driver who refuses a field sobriety test. Nor is that person automatically arrested, unless a law enforcement officer determines there’s probable cause to take the person into custody.

Among DUI cases before White on Monday were a few suspects who had refused field tests and were arrested. But they had bloodshot, glassy eyes, slurred speech, a flushed face or all three. Barrington’s attorney said he exhibited no such signs of impairment.

Barrington was arrested after the traffic stop and taken to a WSP station, where his blood-alcohol level was determined to be .05 percent not long after the arrest, officials said Monday. The legal limit is .08 percent.

“It’s a quandary why the trooper chose to pursue it” and followed through with a DUI citation, Phelps said. “Maybe the trooper felt he had no other choice.”

Baker said a WSP supervisor, who was advised of Barrington’s arrest, let the trooper make the decision. “It sounds like it was a close call, but that’s what judges and courts are for,” Baker said.

The internal affairs investigation will continue, said Spokane police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick. Barrington’s duties have been restored at the department.