ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A New Mexico State Police officer is charged with aggravated DWI after being pulled over near Belen while driving with his 3-year-old son.
State Police said the officer, Daniel Barde, failed three field sobriety tests shortly after he was stopped by another State Police officer at 5 p.m. Tuesday on northbound Interstate 25 in Valencia County.
Though the criminal complaint makes no mention of the officer's son, State Police spokesman Sgt. Tim Johnson confirmed Thursday that the child was in the officer's white Ford pickup truck during the arrest.
Johnson said police presented both child endangerment and DWI charges to the District Attorney's Office, but the DA dropped the child endangerment charge after consulting another attorney.
Calls to the District Attorney's Office were not returned Thursday. However, Johnson said judges' interpretations of what constitutes child endangerment vary across the state.
"That charge seems to vary from judicial district to judicial district," he said. "There doesn't seem to be any continuity when it comes to that."
The 13th Judicial District DA, Lemuel Martinez, told KOB-TV that the state Supreme Court doesn't allow combining DWI charges with child endangerment, so the second charge was dropped.
Police said Barde smelled strongly of alcohol and had bloodshot, watery eyes when he was pulled over. Barde told police he had not been drinking, and he declined additional tests, according to the criminal complaint. State Police got a tip about a possible drunken driver through the Drunk Busters Hotline.
Johnson said Barde did not ask his co-worker to drop charges or to treat him favorably because of his status as an officer.
Barde, 33, was booked into the Valencia County Adult Detention Center and was later released with the approval of Magistrate Judge Tina Gallegos.
Barde started as an officer nine years ago in Chama and was transferred to Socorro in 2005, Johnson said. He returned to Chama in March.
Barde is on paid administrative leave pending the results of an Internal Affairs investigation.