Police officer fired after caught drunk on duty

Kevin McDonald (Credit: Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council)

Kevin McDonald (Credit: Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council)

A former Georgia police officer was fired after his supervisor found him filling out paperwork while drunk, police said.

Kevin McDonald left his fifth law enforcement job when Grovetown Police Chief Scott Wheatley terminated his position Aug. 8, records show. Wheatley said McDonald had been with the Grovetown police for only a few months when he was working on paperwork under the influence of alcohol.

After taking a suspect to jail on a charge of driving under the influence of drugs, McDonald returned to the office to finish his report about 6:30 a.m. Aug. 6, Wheatley said.

When his supervisor came in, he smelled alcohol and immediately called the lieutenant on duty, who gave McDonald a blood-alcohol level test, Wheatley said.

“That was a Saturday and I terminated his employment the following Monday,” Wheatley said.

McDonald tested positive for alcohol with a .087 level, but he was not arrested because he was not found intoxicated while driving.

“The lieutenant took his keys and gun and took him home,” Wheatley said.

Grovetown is west of Augusta, about 135 miles from Atlanta.

McDonald’s Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council profile shows he changed jobs about every two years after being fired from the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office in 2009.

He had been an officer for more than 20 years, having left his first police job in 1989. He worked as an officer for the Wrens Police Department, which is in Jefferson County.