Fireworks mark the end of Riverbend 2012, but the beginning of an internal investigation surrounding Chattanooga Police Officer Steve Jones.
Police Chief Bobby Dodd says, "He's a great traffic investigator and good friend. I've known him for 25 years, very unfortunate incident."
Now, that "unfortunate incident," according to Chief Dodd started to unfold Saturday night.
Jones clocked in and took his city owned motorcycle to work at Riverbend, but a few of hours into his shift, Chief Dodd, says, a fellow officer reported to their supervisor that Jones was under the influence of alcohol.
Chief Dodd adds, "Zero percent alcohol is what you should have while you're operating a city vehicle."
Field sobriety tests were given, and then blood tests, but those results will take weeks to process.
Chief Dodd says, "If blood results come back over .08, obviously he drank before he came or drank while he was there."
Now, Jones is about four weeks from retirement, but Chief Dodd says retired or not, if his blood alcohol level was over .08 that night, he will be charged with a DUI.
Chief Dodd adds, "It's an unfortunate situation, but you have to step back from that and realize you have a job to do, and if you made a poor decision, you brought that to the table, administration didn't."
The story does not stop there.
Chief Dodd says he is also looking into how the initial investigation was handled.
Chief Dodd adds, "I want to know if one officer spotted this, if all the officers knew it, anyone else that knew it, that's the questions I have. And certainly if there were other officers that knew and didn't report it, they will have some internal issues as well."
Now Jones remains on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of this investigation.
