Philadelphia Police Officer Charged with DUI
Philadelphia, PA – This past week an off-duty Philadelphia Police officer was charged with a DUI.
According to 6abc Action News, Officer Nicholas Harper, age 40, was off-duty at around 6 a.m. when he crashed into at least four parked cars on North Street in North Philadelphia’s Ludlow neighborhood.
One resident tells the news station that they were awoken to the loud noise of “Boom, boom, boom!” He says that the sound of the car hitting the wall was “a huge one.”
When the resident looked out his window to see what exactly was going on, he saw that a Honda Civic, one of the car’s Harper struck, was smashed against a row home on the block. Among the list of casualties was also a motorcycle.
The local witness ran to the driver and quickly discovered that he was incredibly intoxicated and in no state to be driving. He recalls that Harper was so drunk he could barely stand up, and looked as if he was about to fall at any given second.
When confronted, the officer tried to tell the resident the car accident wasn’t his fault. Harper, who was driving a jeep at the time, claimed that a car hit him which pushed him into the other vehicles. However, the resident knew he was lying because there was no damage to the back of his car.
At one point, the resident and others who had made their way over to the scene realized the situation was about to escalate when they discovered that the drunk driver had a gun.
On-duty Philadelphia Police officers arrived at the scene shortly thereafter and took Harper into custody. They confirmed to Philly.com that he was indeed showing signs of being severely intoxicated. A breathalyzer test was administered and revealed that he had a blood alcohol content level of 0.198, which is twice the legal limit of 0.08.
When the residents who were at the scene of the car accident found out that the drunk driver was a Philadelphia Police officer, they were shocked. Resident Amir Head summed up the general consensus from the rest of the group by saying “It’s sad, he’s supposed to be a police officer and protecting the city.”
Harper has been with the Philadelphia Police department for four years. Pending the outcome of an Internal Affairs Investigation he has been placed on administrative duty and while the district attorney’s office reviews his DUI charges.
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