ORLANDO, Fla. — An Orlando police officer has been stripped of his powers after police said he was caught driving while drunk.
Body camera video of Officer Samuel Cunningham’s arrest shows he was barely able to walk after being pulled over for driving erratically, police said.
Cunningham has been with the Orlando Police Department nearly 23 years.
He was arrested during the weekend in the city of Edgewood about 1.5 miles his home.
An off-duty Orlando police officer was arrested in a DUI stop. On Eyewitness News at 5:30...what officers say they saw him doing just before the stop. #WFTV pic.twitter.com/3GlktmO9gI
— Jeff Deal (@JDealWFTV) July 16, 2018
Cunningham has been stripped of his law enforcement powers while the investigation continues.
Late Friday night, a call went out for a reckless driver in Orange County heading toward the city of Edgewood.
An officer spotted the red truck and pulled it over on Pershing Avenue near North Glenn Drive.
The body camera video shows the man behind the wheel was not able to pull his license from his wallet.
The Edgewood police officer soon saw Cunningham’s police identification card.
Once Cunningham got out of the truck, he was swaying as he walked and fell facedown behind his truck.
He refused field sobriety exercises, but investigators said he smelled of alcohol and a later Breathalyzer test showed his blood-alcohol level was three times the legal limit to drive.
Police described his behavior as "slow, carefree, lethargic, confused and indifferent."
As the investigation continues, Cunningham will eventually be brought back to the police station to do work that doesn’t require police powers.
In 2007, he was facing charges for leaving the scene of a crash with property damage.
The citation shows he was in a city vehicle and the crash caused $30,000 in damage.
The charges were later dropped.
Cox Media Group
