IMPD Officer arrested for suspicion of driving while intoxicated

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - An IMPD officer was arrested Friday evening for suspicion of operating a vehicle while intoxicated, police report.

IMPD received a complaint alleging an IMPD officer had the smell of alcohol on his breath and shortly after IMPD supervisors located Officer Morton Gallagher, 43, driving his assigned IMPD vehicle.

Police say they believe the officer had just left a location near the 600 block of Meadows Edge Lane, where he was working off-duty employment while in his IMPD uniform.

During the Initial observation, supervisors were led to believe that Officer Gallagher had consumed alcohol and investigators with IMPD’s Professional Standards Division and DUI Unit were called to conduct an internal and criminal investigation.

Officer Gallagher cooperated with investigators and voluntarily submitted to testing for chemical intoxicants, according to a police release.

Police reports stated that Gallagher was subsequently arrested and preliminarily charged with Operating a Vehicle While Intoxicated, an “A” misdemeanor.

The officer was transported to the Arrestee Processing Center, where he was booked and posted a bond.

The Marion County Prosecutor’s Office will make the decision to file formal charges.

Officer Gallagher has been a member of IMPD since April 1991, and is now on administrative leave pending the outcome of an internal investigation.