Atlanta police investigator Bennie Bridges has been suspended without pay following his arrest for speeding, DUI and marijuana possession, the police department said Wednesday.
The suspension starts Thursday, Sgt. Curtis Davenport said. The action followed a hearing Wednesday with Atlanta Police Chief George Turner.
The APD did not release any additional details.
"It is the policy of the Atlanta Police Department not to comment on any open internal investigation," a statement said.
Bridges, the APD's lead investigator into the Atlanta Eagle gay bar raid, was arrested and booked into the Cobb County Jail early Feb. 3, according to jail records. He was charged with speeding, driving under the influence and marijuana possession, and released on a $1,900 bond, jail records show.
He was on administrative leave with pay immediately following his arrest. The issue then was turned over to the APD's Office of Professional Standards.
Bridges has been with the Atlanta Police Department since 1991.
Bridges, 41, was the lead investigator in the September 2009 raid on the Atlanta Eagle, where a swarm of officers detained and searched about five dozen Eagle customers, making some lie handcuffed and face down on the club's floor.
He was one of three undercover officers already in the Atlanta Eagle bar before the Sept. 10, 2009 raid, according to information obtained in a lawsuit against the city. He and another undercover officer downed shot after shot of Jagermeister, according to the bartender and the receipts they filed for the costs of their drinks.
Bridges spent $60 that night, according to information gathered to settle a federal lawsuit for $1.025 million and legal costs.
Robby Kelly, a co-owner who was tending bar that night, said he remembered Bridges because he stood taller than many in the bar. Kelly also said Bridges and the other officer were loud as they drank $6 shots and bantered with another bartender.
It was never determined if the officers were impaired.
APD spokesman Carlos Campos told the AJC in an e-mail Tuesday that APD “employees are prohibited from consuming intoxicants or illegal substances while on duty. However, exceptions are made for employees working undercover on specific law enforcement operations. Those exceptions must be approved ahead of time in writing by an employee’s supervisor, and must be limited to prevent the impairment of the employee.”
Campos declined to comment on Bridges’ or another officer’s spending or any specifics about the case because “internal investigations into officers’ actions are ongoing.”
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