‘I’m a police officer’: Eaton Reserve Police officer charged with drunk driving

PENDLETON, Ind. (WRTV) — A reserve Eaton police officer has been suspended following his arrest on suspicion of drunken driving.

Tommie Isom III is a reserve officer for the Eaton Police Department, a role that involves working two shifts, or approximately 16 hours, a month.

On July 26, a Pendleton police sergeant heard Madison County Central Dispatch broadcast a “be on the lookout” alert, or BOLO, for a possible impaired driver on Interstate 69 near the 218-mile marker.

A caller reported the driver was drifting across all three lanes and nearly sideswiped another vehicle, court records allege.

When the Pendleton police officer encountered the vehicle, it was traveling extremely slowly eastbound on State Street from the exit and then made an abrupt U-turn in the middle of Enterprise Drive, court records allege.

The Pendleton police sergeant made contact with the driver, who identified himself as Isom.

The sergeant noted Isom’s breath smelled of alcohol, his speech was slurred and his eyes were bloodshot and glassy, according to the records.

“I’m a good man. I’m a police officer,” Isom told the sergeant, court records state.

The sergeant told Isom his employment status was not part of the discussion and asked him to submit to field sobriety tests.

During the one-leg stand test, Isom put his foot down several times and the sergeant stopped the test “for fear he may fall over,” court documents state.

A portable breath test showed Isom’s blood alcohol content was 0.151%, which is nearly double the legal limit of 0.08%.

While transporting Isom to the detention center, he “continued a cycle of passing out and snoring, and waking back up,” court documents say.

Eaton Police Chief Ray Dudley told Indiana’s I-Team that Isom used to be a full-time Marion police officer but currently works as a reserve officer for Eaton.

Isom is suspended pending the outcome of the criminal case, Dudley said.

Isom faces criminal charges of operating a vehicle while intoxicated endangering a person and operating a vehicle with an alcohol concentration equivalent to 0.15% or more.