Vanderburgh sheriff's deputy arrested on DUI suspicion; showed 0.338 on breath test

John T. Martin, Evansville Courier & Press
·2 min read

EVANSVILLE − A Vanderburgh County Sheriff's Office employee was arrested at a crash scene Monday night for suspicion of drunken driving.

Michael Edmond Bishop registered 0.338 on a portable breath test administered at Indiana 62 and Schutte Road, according to an arrest affidavit. Bishop later was given a blood test at Deaconess Midtown Hospital, but the affidavit said that result is "pending." Indiana's legal limit is for alcohol content is 0.08.

Bishop, 43, is an operations sergeant. Sheriff Dave Wedding said Bishop is on paid administrative leave pending an internal investigation by the sheriff's office as well as the case's outcome in the legal system.

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Sheriff's deputies were dispatched to Indiana 62 and Schutte a few minutes after 8 p.m. Monday, where two vehicles had been involved in a crash. The first deputies to arrive identified Bishop "as an agency employee," according to the affidavit.

Sgt. Mark Harrison writes in the affidavit he detected "a strong odor of an alcoholic-type beverage" on Bishop and his speech was "slow and slurred sounding."

Bishop failed field sobriety test before registering 0.338 on the breath exam, Harrison writes in the affidavit. He was booked into the Vanderburgh County Detention Center and later released.

Wedding said the second vehicle involved in the Monday night crash was hauling a small trailer. No one was injured, according to the sheriff.

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Wedding did not know how many years Bishop has with the sheriff's office but said "he's not a brand-new deputy." Wedding noted Bishop's right to due process but also said he's "very displeased and disturbed this happened."

"He'll have to deal with this," Wedding said.

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Police report: Vanderburgh sheriff's deputy on drunk driving test