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Kitsap deputy in DUI controversy has a history of on-duty car crashes
Jan 21, 2016, 4:13 PM | Updated: Jan 22, 2016, 6:45 am
Sergeant Jim Porter waits in his car as he is questioned by Poulsbo Police Officer Jennifer Corn. Corn found him passed out, covered in vomit, parked in his driveway. (Police body camera footage)
(Police body camera footage)
The Kitsap County sheriff’s sergeant who allegedly drove drunk is no stranger to problems on the road.
Internal Kitsap County Sheriff’s Department documents indicate Sergeant Jim Porter was reprimanded three times in three years for on-duty car collisions. This was prior to an October incident when he was discovered in his Jeep outside a Poulsbo movie theater intoxicated. When officers checked on Porter later, they discovered he drove home drunk.
The most recent collision was just two weeks before Porter’s Poulsbo incident.
Related: Kitsap County Sheriff’s deputy admits on camera that he drove drunk
According to an internal investigation, Porter was driving his work-issued patrol car in unincorporated Kitsap County, just a quarter mile from his home, around 7:57 a.m. Oct. 5. Another car was stopped, waiting for traffic in order to turn left, but Porter didn’t stop his car and rear-ended the other vehicle.
The Sheriff’s Department estimated the collision caused $8,660.00 in damage to the patrol car. The other car was totaled.
That same day, Kitsap County Lieutenant Steve Duckworth wrote that Deputy Porter said he wanted to “get it over with” and talk about the collision. Duckworth says Porter took full responsibility for the crash, and “agreed that the collision was preventable.”
Porter could have been disciplined with a suspension of up to three days without pay.
“Due to you having a very distinguished 23-year career here at the sheriff’s office, the upper range of discipline is unwarranted. Given the fact that you are a law enforcement officer and shift supervisor, and we are expected to set a safe driving example for the motoring public, I have decided to issue a written reprimand,” Lieutenant Duckworth wrote.
But the October crash wasn’t his first on duty.
Porter was also issued a written reprimand for a collision on Jan. 18, 2014. According to an internal investigation, Porter backed into a concrete post at the County’s Readiness Center garage, causing $900 in damage. Porter admitted he was at fault for that crash as well.
On March 26 2013, Porter scraped against a detective’s patrol car while trying to park at the Kitsap County Courthouse. The minor damage was estimated at $480 to Porter’s patrol car.
“After reviewing all of the facts of this case and considering the small amount of damage and your good driving history I have decided to issue a verbal reprimand,” Duckworth wrote.
Just 11 days after his most recent fender bender, Porter was found passed out in his patrol car in front of a movie theater in Poulsbo. He refused a ride home, or a police officer’s offer to call a cab, but promised not to drive.
About an hour-and-a-half later, another officer checked to make sure he got home safely. That officer found Porter asleep in his jeep, with “vomit on his chin, arm, and lap” and appearing “severely impaired,” according to a Poulsbo Police report.
Sergeant Porter is retiring from the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office, according to the Kitsap Sun. On Jan. 7, Porter submitted a letter to his supervisors that stated he intends to retire. His last day on the force will be Jan. 31.
