Former BPD Officer Pleads Guilty To DUI And Misconduct In Office
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- A former Baltimore City Police officer pled guilty to driving while under the influence of alcohol and misconduct in office.
In October of 2018, Aaron Heilman, 27, drove his BPD patrol car under the influence of alcohol while on duty.
At around 1:09 p.m. on Oct. 2, surveillance footage captured Heilman drive and park his cruiser in the 700 block of Washington Blvd.
At around 1:30 p.m. two civilians noticed that the car had been sitting parked with its top lights flashing for some time.
When they went to investigate the matter, they saw Heilman in uniform while he appeared to be asleep at the wheel.
The witnesses later reported that they became alarmed when the officer remained unresponsive through their attempts to wake him up.
Eventually, the officer regained consciousness and rolled down his window to assure the witnesses that he was fine.
One witness reported that he detected the scent of alcohol coming from inside the patrol car.
Minutes after the witnesses walked away, Heilman was observed to have fallen back asleep. A BPD Sergeant was dispatched to investigate the officer.
Upon investigation, the Sergeant concluded that the effects of alcohol were apparent from the defendant's breath, walk, speech and eyes.
Police transported Heilman to the district office where he voluntarily agreed to submit to a breathalyzer test.
The test found that his blood-alcohol level was 0.22. which is almost three times over Maryland's legal limit.
Police later searched Heilman's patrol car and found one empty bottle of wine inside.
In accordance with his plea agreement, Heilman faces a maximum of two concurrent one-year sentences with all but 30 days suspended, 18 months supervised probation and all standard DUI penalties.
Heilman will be sentenced for his conduct on August 9, 2019.
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