A Roswell police officer who works with the crime scene investigation unit was suspended for 30 days without pay after he showed up with alcohol in his system to pistol training, records show.
An investigation report obtained by Channel 2 Action News shows that Detective Zach Kowalske was late to a class at a gun range in Forsyth County at 8:45 a.m. on May 31. When Kowalske arrived, the instructor smelled alcohol on his breath. The officer later admitted to drinking six beers and shots of whiskey the night before and then said he must have "passed or blacked out."
Kowalske tested positive for a blood alcohol content of 0.04 at the training on May 31, according to the investigation.
According to the report, Kowalske, an eight-year veteran of the Roswell police force, told his supervisors that he was having trouble sleeping because of homicides he had investigated and that he sees “ghosts,” which causes him to drink.
Kowalske has been involved in the investigations of the Ga. 400 shooting in 2013, a double homicide behind a Roswell Publix in 2016 and a murder-suicide involving a 4-year-old in 2013, records show.
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Roswell Police Chief Rusty Grant ruled that, after his suspension, Kowalske must undergo a “Fitness for Duty Evaluation" and will be transferred to a different division within the police department. Records show that Kowalske had never been suspended before.
Nikeisha Whatley-Leon, a psychotherapist at Northside Hospital, told Channel 2 that post-traumatic stress disorder is not uncommon for police and other first responders.
“The symptoms would be something similar to reliving the experience, having nightmares, not being able to sleep,” she said. “We’ve seen veterans, we’ve seen policemen that have been exposed to experiences that have been very traumatizing to where it impacts their way of functioning.”
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