AURORA — One Aurora police officer has been charged with driving while ability impaired and another for throwing beer cans out of their marked police cruiser as they were heading to South Dakota for the a funeral of a fallen officer.
The two Aurora police officers were pulled over Wednesday evening near Torrington, Wyo., by Goshen County Sheriff’s Capt. Bryan Morehouse.
Morehouse said the department received a complaint that a police car was speeding and trash was being thrown out of their cruiser’s window.
Morehouse pulled the police car over, and said he could smell alcohol on the breath of Aurora police officer Bradley Bickett. He administered a roadside test and arrested Bickett.
Bickett’s blood-alcohol level was 0.07, just under the threshold for drunken driving, Morehouse said. He was charged with driving while impaired and for speeding, going 57 mph in a 40 mph zone.
Bickett’s passenger, Aurora police officer Gerald Kirby, was cited for littering.
Neither officer was wearing his police uniform.
Two command officers from the Aurora Police Department went to Wyoming to pick up Bickett and Kirby after the department received the news.
“This is pretty disturbing,” Morehouse said. “I’m not sure what they were thinking.
The funeral for Rapid City Police Officer Nick Armstrong was held today, according to the Rapid City Journal. The funeral for officer J. Ryan McCandless was last week. Both officers were shot during a shootout that errupted during a routine traffic stop Aug. 2. McCandless died that day. Armstrong died Sunday.
Aurora Police spokeswoman Cassidee Carlson said when both officers return to work on Monday they will be put into a non-uniform, non-enforcement assignments, until the issue is investigated.
Both have been police officers for 30-plus years, she said.
“The will not have contact with the public until this serious discipline matter is resolved,” Carlson said.
Carlson said Police Chief Dan Oates addressed the staff this morning about what happened in Wyoming. He also called Goshen County to apologize to the sheriff and also praised them for their professionalism in how it was handled.
The citations are misdemeanors so the two officers may not lose their jobs over this.
Even so, it is still a black eye for all the 600-plus police officers in Aurora, Carlson said.
“To send officers up to a fellow officer’s funeral, it’s a sign of respect and kindness,” she said. “We’re all on the same team here. When we lose an officer, we all feel it.
“You better believe we’re embarrassed.”
Carlos Illescas: 303-954-1175 or cillescas@denverpost.com
