Police were dispatched around 4:00 am Tuesday to a southwest Austin intersection after calls of a driver passed out behind the wheel of his vehicle. An Austin-Travis County EMS arrived before police and what happened next lead to a Texas DWI arrest and an internal investigation.
Paramedics Aaron Langford and Steven Peek found a former associate, Brian J. Angeline, passed out in his Chevrolet Tahoe, with the engine running. They notified dispatch that the police were not needed at the scene and then moved Angeline’s vehicle to a nearby parking lot.
The police arrived on the scene anyway though and the paramedics tried to keep the officers from Angeline. Police reports from the incident say that one of the paramedics said, “If this was one of your own, you would do the same thing we are.” The EMS crew also said they would take Angeline home.
Police determined that Angeline had been partying on Sixth Street until 2:30 am. He smelled of alcohol, had bloodshot eyes, slurred his speech and was swaying. He refused to submit to a breath test and failed a field sobriety test. Angeline was taken to the Travis County Jail and charged with suspicion of misdemeanor Texas DWI.
The two paramedics are now under subject of an internal investigation. Langford and Peek have been placed on administrative duty pending the outcome of the investigation.
Angeline, 32, resigned from Austin-Travis County EMS in April 2005, after six years of employment. An EMS spokesman said Angeline resignation stemmed from a recommendation that he be fired for attendance problems.
