A Gwinnett County police officer may have beaten a drunken driving charge, but his supervisors didn't let him off the hook.

Cpl. Kevin Brandle, 31, has been suspended without pay for three days, according to an internal investigation file obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution through an open records request.

"In my opinion your behavior and actions reflect poorly both on you and the department, show a lack of good judgment and have caused other police officers and members of the public to question the moral and ethical values of this department," Maj. Dan Bruno said in a Feb. 27 note indicating his intention to suspend Brandle.

Brandle is scheduled return to work Wednesday. Prior to his arrest, Brandle was an undercover drug investigator in the Special Investigation Section. He will not return to that assignment following the suspension, according to Cpl. Valerie Southard, spokeswoman for the Gwinnett County Police Department.

"He will be taking reports and assisting citizens as determined by his supervisors," Southard said.

When a Georgia State Patrol trooper stopped Brandle for speeding on I-85 Dec. 28, Brandle said that he hadn't been drinking. Brandle refused to perform field sobriety evaluations or take a breath test.

He pleaded not guilty in Gwinnett County Recorder's Court, and Judge Patricia Muise acquitted him on Feb. 1.

While being questioned by an internal affairs investigator on Jan. 7, however, Brandle admitted drinking three beers and a glass of wine over the course of the evening.

The night out with a fellow Gwinnett police officer and several friends visiting from New York included four stops — a sports bar in Duluth, a Buckhead restaurant, a downtown Atlanta strip joint and a nightclub.

According to the investigation report, Brandle told the investigator he was dishonest about drinking because he was "scared as hell frankly. " Brandle also reportedly said, "I just felt in dealing with [the state trooper] that I was screwed basically, so when he asked me that I said 'no.' "

"I knew I had a couple drinks earlier," Brandle said in the report. "I didn't think I was impaired or intoxicated along the lines of a DUI."

Brandle did not return a message left on at his office Monday afternoon. His home telephone number was unlisted. His defense attorney, Christine Koehler, declined to comment.

The trooper, Cpl. Charles Chapeau, clocked Brandle's burgundy GMC Yukon going 91 mph in a 55 mph zone at about 1:10 a.m. on Dec. 28.

Chapeau let Brandle off with a warning for speeding. There were several open beer bottles in the car and two intoxicated passengers were traveling with Brandle, according to the internal affairs file.

Chapeau is a field sobriety instructor for the State Patrol with more than 10 years of experience. He told an internal affairs investigator he decided to arrest Brandle because "it was obvious to me that he was impaired." Chapeau reported Brandle had alcohol-laced breath, slurred speech and bloodshot eyes.

Muise, the judge, has repeatedly declined to comment on her decision to acquit Brandle. Her judicial assistant, Kim Everett, said told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in February "it all came down to evidence, it just wasn't there."

Brandle was disciplined by the police department once before in 2002 for having a run-in with security guards while attending a concert at HiFi Buys Amphitheatre in Atlanta.

Brandle was suspended from duty for two days following that confrontation.