Maine State trooper pleads guilty to drunk driving

PORTLAND – State Police Sergeant Robin Parker pleaded guilty Tuesday to drunk driving in connection with an incident that took place last year on the Maine Turnpike. He will be suspended for 60 days and is facing a penalty that could cost him more than $12,000 in lost wages and benefits.

According to the Portland Press Herald, Parker appeared in Cumberland County Court yesterday and was fined $500. He also lost his license for 90 days as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors. Reports also said that he was demoted two ranks, from sergeant to trooper, as a result of an internal inquiry by the state police. He is suspected to be without pay for the next two months and was suspended from the state police, starting Tuesday. He will lose one-sixth of his annual base pay, which in 2011 was $66,000. He also must pay for his own insurance during that period, a cost of about $1,500.

Parker was involved in a drunken driving accident December 18 last year, when he was stopped by a trooper on the Maine Turnpike after another motorist reported an erratic driver. His blood alcohol level was recorded at 0.14%, well above the 0.08 legal limit and just below the threshold of 0.15% which requires a minimum of two days in jail.

When he appeared before Judge Richard Mulhern on Tuesday morning in Cumberland County Unified Criminal Court, he told him that he wanted to take responsibility for his actions and move on. “I plead guilty,” he responded, after the charge of driving with a blood-alcohol content of at least 0.08 percent was read out.

During his visit to the court, Parker was accompanied by his attorney, Jonathan Goodman. “All I would want to say is I came here today to take responsibility for my actions and I look forward to moving ahead,” he said after leaving the courtroom.

Parker was assigned as the permanent state police cadre supervisor seven months ago at the Maine Criminal Justice Academy in Vassalboro. Mitigated by Parker’s good record of over 17 years with the force, Col. Robert Williams, chief of the state police said that Parker settled on the punishment because of the seriousness of the misconduct.

“Some people would classify this as a victimless crime, but when you look at the potential, what the outcome could have been, the outcome can be very traumatic,” Williams said. “Every day we go out and try to prevent this from happening. We end up cleaning up the result of it. Sometimes those results are deadly.”

Williams also said that he was impressed by the public apology that Parker emailed to troopers right after the charge became public. Parker took full responsibility for his actions and said that the trooper who charged him did the right thing.

Parker has completed the Driver Education and Evaluation Program and can get a permit to drive to and from work after 60 days.

After his suspension, Parker will be assigned a desk job at the state police barracks in Gray until his driver’s license is fully reinstated, after which he will be assigned as a trooper in York County.