Johnstown Police Sergeant Terminated After Arriving for Duty Intoxicated

Johnstown Police Sergeant William Ward was terminated on July 20 for being intoxicated on duty after driving to the department.

According to the relevant disciplinary report, Ward arrived for duty at 6 a.m. on May 28 in uniform with his firearm and in his police cruiser when officers under Ward became suspicious he was intoxicated. The report states that they confronted him and he volunteered to take a breath test, which resulted in a .107 BAC.

Ward said he would go home, according to the report, that he didn’t feel drunk, and over the course of multiple hours he was given three more tests with his final being a BAC of .097 at 9:41 a.m. The report states that Ward admitted to consuming “approximately 15 drinks” the night before, prior to going to bed at about 11 p.m.

Colorado statutes state that driving a motor vehicle with a BAC of 0.08 or more at the time of driving, or within two hours after driving, commits driving under the influence per se.

The Johnstown Police Department Public Information Officer Samantha Knowlton told Blue Surveillance she did not know if the department had arrested Ward or issued him a summons that day for drinking and driving, and would “reach out to our chief and see what our statement is on that.”

Knowlton did not respond to multiple follow-ups before publishing.

According to state court dockets, Ward has no upcoming court dates and county court records show no arrests or previous court dates for May, June, July or August so far.