Officer charged with driving under influence of sleeping pill
BY STEVE E. SWENSON, Californian staff writer sswenson@bakersfield.com
Bakersfield police officer Aaron Stringer has been charged with misdemeanor counts of driving under the influence of a sleeping agent and hit and run in a June 26 incident of erratic driving from his Rosedale area home to the downtown police station, a prosecutor said.
Stringer, 30, a five-year veteran, is scheduled to be arraigned on the charges Sept. 30, Deputy District Attorney Mark Pafford said.
Stringer was arrested based on reports that his driver's door bumped into a ground air-conditioning unit at his apartment building, and reports by citizens that he swerved across traffic lanes of Truxtun Avenue and hit a curb on his way to work, police said at the time.
Stringer remains working under "alternative duties" pending the completion of the criminal process, which will play a part in an internal investigation, Sgt. Mary DeGeare said Wednesday.
An analysis of Stringer's blood showed he was under the influence of Zolpidem, a popular sleeping pill known as Ambien, Pafford said. Police said his medication was prescribed.
Warnings on the label and an information sheet given with the drug say a side effect is engaging in activities when a person is not fully awake, such as eating or driving, said pharmacist Pat Person of Ming and H Drugs.
A 2006 story by the New York Times said Ambien was a growing hazard on the roadway with motorists who smash into parked cars, plow over sidewalks and drive in the wrong direction, all while oblivious to the destruction left behind.
Some drug experts called the phenomenon "sleep driving," which is like sleep walking.
That's why warnings were put on the label and information sheet advising people to get eight hours of sleep before resuming activity and to not use the drug with alcohol, the New York Times report said.
The newspaper, for example, reported 187 drivers in Wisconsin were arrested from 1999 to 2004 for being under the influence of Ambien while driving.
Ambien is a fast-acting drug and some problems have occurred when people take it while driving home, hoping that it will kick in by their bedtime, the newspaper reported.
Convictions have been obtained in California especially in cases where the drug was combined with alcohol or the user did not follow the label instructions or warnings, according to a website called California DUI Ambien & Lunesta Defense Attorneys.
Stringer's arrest came six months after he received a police chief's commendation and a Red Cross "Real Hero" honor for running to his partner's aid in a gunfight at a 7-Eleven store on Wilson Road in September 2009.
Most CommentedMost Popular
Since Karen Goh returned to Kern County from a publishing career in New York in 2004, she has helped foster a strong network of Christian leaders in government, politics, media, business and nonprofits.
California voters approved Proposition 215 in 1996, giving "seriously ill Californians ... the right to obtain and use marijuana for medical purposes" as recommended by a physician.
Is Kern County, as has widely been reported, really the expulsion capital of California? That's the question posed Friday by state Sen. Michael Rubio, D-Shafter, to 50 or so Kern County educators, elementary and high school district administrators and community leaders.
Kern County has agreed to pay a Kern River Valley family $1 million for wrongfully taking their son in 2008 when the family was in a dispute with the South Fork Union School District over how school officials were dealing with the boy's food allergies.
A Bakersfield mother of two who took up competitive cycling nine months ago after an injury ended her marathoning career died Sunday while competing in a bicycle race outside Yosemite National Park.
A Bakersfield police officer shot and killed a man who was armed with a gun in a northwest Bakersfield apartment Monday morning.
Since Karen Goh returned to Kern County from a publishing career in New York in 2004, she has helped foster a strong network of Christian leaders in government, politics, media, business and nonprofits.
Kern County has agreed to pay a Kern River Valley family $1 million for wrongfully taking their son in 2008 when the family was in a dispute with the South Fork Union School District over how school officials were dealing with the boy's food allergies.