A Tucson police sergeant arrested on an extreme DUI charge has retired from the department after an internal investigation determined that he was drinking and gambling while on duty.
Sgt. Robert Lund, a 21-year department veteran, retired March 18 along with Officer David Haggerty, a 21-year-vet, who admitted to drinking and gambling with Lund on the clock, Tucson police said Monday.
Their retirements stem from an incident Jan. 29 when a citizen called 911 around 11:30 p.m. to report that a motorist had struck a curb near South Harrison Road and East 22nd Street and was possibly impaired.
When officers arrived, they found a 1999 Ford Taurus — an unmarked police car owned by the city — in a parking lot on the corner, police said at the time.
A DUI investigation began when officers noted signs and symptoms of intoxication. A breath test on Lund, 44, yielded results of .202 and .183 — the legal limit is 0.08, causing him to be arrested.
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According to documents released Monday, an internal affairs investigation determined that Lund was drinking beer at the beginning of his shift. Witness statements indicated that Lund was seen drinking alcohol and gambling on dog races later in the day.
He also admitted to drinking a bottle of tequila while on duty in his unmarked police car, the documents say.
“Sergeant Lund has no memory regarding his actions later in the shift,” the documents state. “Sergeant Lund’s attendance is confirmed by video cameras at the business.”
After the incident, the department began looking at the incident from all angles to ensure that it was handled properly and learned that Haggerty was also drinking with Lund.
During an interview, Haggerty said he was invited by Lund to eat, so he had a beer, a cheeseburger and a coke, the documents say. He said he had nothing further to drink that day and only saw Lund for a brief period of time.
Haggerty, 46, said that later on he got a call from Lund saying he was having car trouble.
He went to where Lund was stopped by patrol officers and began yelling at the officers conducting the investigation and was asked to leave, documents say.
Haggerty later requested another interview with internal affairs during which time he said he was “not as forthcoming as he should have been,” the documents say. He admitted to drinking alcohol and betting on dogs with Lund and said he did not have only one beer as he stated in the first interview.
Both Haggerty and Lund were served with notices of intents to terminate and were to go before the Administrative Termination Review Committee March 19 where they could have given their sides of the story and offered any evidence but instead turned in their retirement papers the day before, said Lt. Claudette Gross, a department spokeswoman.
Lund was the supervisor of the Community Response Team in Operations Division East. Haggerty also was assigned to the CRT. Both were in plain clothes and both utilized unmarked cars.
