Appeal Court confirms suspension of drunk Guardia Civil officer

The Supreme Court has upheld the sanction of four months of suspension from employment imposed on a Guardia Civil officer who was absent from his workplace and was found in his car in a state of intoxication while he was still on duty.

The agent took his case to the high court, considering that the sanction was “erroneous, unreasonable and arbitrary” given that he considered it evident that “he was not on duty when the consumption of alcoholic beverages and his subsequent and immediate intoxication occurred.”

The officer thus requested that the sanction for “very serious misconduct” for “serving while intoxicated” be annulled and that two sanctions be applied for “serious misconduct”: one for being absent from duty – which entails loss of five days of salaries with suspension of functions–; and another for drunkenness off duty – which implies another loss of five days of salary with suspension of duties -.

The magistrates have insisted that it had been “proven beyond doubt” that the agent had to work from 3:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. and that he was found in a state of intoxication after 9:00 p.m. Thus, they consider that “sanctioned drunkenness is contracted to the fact of becoming intoxicated during the performance of service.”

In the sentence, it is stated that the events date back to an afternoon in May 2021, when the officer was on duty at Alicante Elche Miguel Hernandez Airport. There he carried out support tasks for the personnel who carry out health screening for passengers arriving at the airport.

Although he showed up at his job “normally”, around 8:00 p.m. a colleague noticed his absence and started looking for him “throughout the airport terminal, including the toilets.” They also called him on his mobile phone, but could not reach him.

Since the agent did not appear, they looked at the security camera recordings, which showed that “he had left the airport at 8:13 p.m. driving his private vehicle.”

A citizen found him about 10 kilometres from the area and called 112. The agent was inside his vehicle, dressed in uniform and with a card on the dashboard of the car that identified him as a Guardia Civil agent. The Local Police arrived at the scene and informed the Guardia Civil Command.

Once at the airport, Traffic agents performed two breathalyser tests on him, which yielded positive results. Furthermore, witnesses who saw him that day said that the accused “showed symptoms of intoxication.”

The General Directorate of the Guardia Civil imposed a sanction of four months of suspension from employment as the author of a very serious offence for “providing service while intoxicated.” The Ministry of Defence, the Central Military Court and the Supreme Court have confirmed the agreement.

The officer’s failed defence rested on his claim that because he had left his post early, he was not technically on duty at the time of the incident, a claim that was dismissed.

The post Appeal Court confirms suspension of drunk Guardia Civil officer appeared first on Spain Today – Breaking Spanish News, Sport, and Information.