Some Seattle DUI Cases Still Proceeding

Although the Seattle City Attorney's Office said Monday that dozens of misdemeanor DUI cases would be put on hold while Seattle police investigate whether some of its officers mishandled DUI arrests, several DUI cases went ahead as scheduled Tuesday.

In one case against a man being represented by attorney James Egan, paperwork appears to show a hand stamp, rather than an actual signature, from a Seattle Police Department sergeant under investigation for violating department policy.

"It's obvious these are a stamp," Egan said, pointing to several instances of the signature.

At issue is whether the sergeant in charge of the DUI squad screened all drunk driving arrests in person, or whether he allowed his officers to "rubber stamp" his signature.

The sergeant and three other members of the DUI squad have been reassigned pending the outcome of the SPD's internal investigation.

Egan said he didn't want the case put on hold.

"Without good cause, the city can't just move the case along," he said. "I would argue, I would suggest that good cause does not include an officer being on an internal investigation for some malfeasance that apparently occurred."

Egan said that it would be troubling if the sergeant's signatures were stamped.

"I would have preferred that an officer did actually review it because I think there are some good legal issues here related to whether (my client) should have been stopped," he said.

Despite that, the case proceeded and Egan's client agreed to plead guilty to a reduced charge of reckless driving.