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San Luis Obispo police officer arrested for DUI

September 10, 2015

CHP@A California Highway Patrol officer arrested a San Luis Obispo police officer Wednesday morning for driving under the influence and then released him without booking him into the county jail.

At 2:22 a.m., a CHP officer discovered Travis Morris, 32, driving with a vehicle code violation near the corner of Garden and Marsh streets in San Luis Obispo. The CHP officer then executed a traffic stop and determined Morris was driving under the influence of alcohol.

Morris declined the breathalyzer instead electing to have a blood test to determine his blood alcohol level.

The officer cited Morris for driving under the influence before permitting him to get a ride from a friend. Because he was cited and released, his mugshot was not taken.

If a person arrested for DUI has a valid drivers license, no past DUIs, a sensitive position or condition and someone to take them from the scene, an officer can suggest to the sergeant they are cited and released, said John Townsen, CHP public information officer. Sensitive issues include advanced age, medical issues, law enforcement status or mental illness.

“Public Information being that the person is a local police officer, with what he was arrested for he fit the perimeters for cite and release,” Townsen said. “That is why the sergeant felt this was a cite and release case.”


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I don’t see what the argument is here. I had a DUI back in 2008 and I wasn’t treated any different than this Officer was. I didn’t want a breath test, I wanted a blood test. The A-Town Officer took me to the hospital for the test and then he allowed me to call a friend to come and pick me up. Granted I wasn’t what anyone would call drunk but I was under the influence with a .10 BAC. So unless this Officer was so intoxicated as to not be safe to release, I don’t get what the big deal is unless the rules have changed in the last 7 years.


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A lot about DUI’s has changed in 8 years, I remember way back in the day when officers pulled over a person suspected of DUI’s and if they found alcohol in the car sometimes would just make the person pour it on the ground in front of the officer. Not sure what your point is, times have changed.


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“perimeters”?


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What was the chp officer doing downtown? Stick to the 101 poncharella.


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Are you kidding? These guys are always DT. Even the married ones. The college kids know them by first name.


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SLOPD, I mean.


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CHP could have been downtown for dozens of reasons including finishing or starting a shift, taking a lunch break, or switching directions on 101. If this officer had been downtown and passed on arresting a fellow law enforcement officer, he would have caught hell for that. CHP officer did the right thing and you’re looking for reasons to ridicule him?


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There was a blood test. This will go to court.


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Of course it will go to court. He was cited into court. Blood test results will be weighed by prosecutors along with the chp report and video (if it exists) Then filing deputy will decide if it goes to next level or recommends dismissal.


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Just imagine what would (actually wouldn’t) have happened if he had been pulled over by a fellow SLOPD officer.


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What “pull over”, it would have been as if there had never been one, no records, no reports and all traces of anything wiped clean. Just waiting for all his fellow officers to speak out loudly how wrong this is and that he should be treated like all “regular” people who get stopped for a suspected DUI. But once again silence from his fellow officers, they don’t want to change the special treatment they get in case they need one day.


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One that got me thinking, if sensitive job and no past DUI’S. O.k. so if that is the case we have a chicken and egg situation. The cop, as long as he is a cop, would never be cited.


If he doesn’t have any DUI’s and they won’t write if no priors………….see where I’m going here? How does he EVER get the first one?


To ANY cop reading this. I stand by all cops with all the crap going on in the last year and even prior BUT it is this kind of preferential treatment that will turn off most people to your cause. Myself included.


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You think incorrectly. This is his first one. He is not off the hook here.


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Gee you let him go home. Do you think we would get the same?


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@JTKirk: Still, the officer received special treatment beyond what many civilians would have received.


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If you go back and read the article again, you’ll see that the CHP officer took the SLO cop to have his blood drawn then issued him a citation to appear in court. Then allowed him to call a friend for a ride after he got the approval from his Sgt.


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Yea no kidding and did you read where they will give special treatment to sensitive jobs? Shouldn’t matter your job the LAW is the LAW!!!!


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@T-Bone: You must be a police officer, or closely related to one, to not understand THIS [allegedly] IMPAIRED OFFICER GOT SPECIAL TREATMENT.


A civilian would not be able to get his “Sgt.” to approve him being sent home because a civilian HAS NO SGT.


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No Mary, not a cop. I was just reading what the article said. It wasn’t hard to comprehend. Yeah he got special treatment, but he’s now also in the system and possibly going to court pending the results of his blood test. So at least he wasn’t pulled over and found to be a DUI and just given a ride home home and no consequences.


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Great. You agree he got special treatment.


The law is to be applied to all equally. In this case, the sergeant’s pet got SPECIAL TREATMENT.


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Ugh custody…people he arrested


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He could be in custody with prior custodian and they could kill him. So he screwed up….. He will pay but I am ok with this.


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Uh yeah and then there is the reality of the fact that the odds of that happening are so small it’s not even worth considering. Law enforcement risks in a town like this are so minimal it is absurd… it’s an incredibly safe job.


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The agency that completely screws up these kinds of situations is the SLO Sheriff’s Dept. remember the CHP capt the deputies stopped that was drunk a few years ago? If they had just done their job and arrested him all would have been well. Instead, they call supervisors and supervisors call chiefs and chiefs call capts and capts call cronies and the guy gets off. If a CHP officer had stopped that ahole, he would have been busted.


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