Colorado district attorney 'incredibly frustrated' he's unable to prosecute cop found drunk in patrol car

Aurora officer Nathan Meier was found passed out, armed and in his patrol car.

By Clayton Sandell and Jeffrey Cook
February 6, 2020, 5:59 PM
5 min read

A Colorado district attorney expressed frustration Thursday at not being able to prosecute an Aurora police officer who was found passed out drunk in his car last year, calling the department’s failure to launch a DUI investigation a double standard meant to protect one of its own.

Officer Nathan Meier was found unresponsive in his city-owned police car parked in the middle of an Aurora street on March 29, 2019. Meier was armed and in uniform. Officers, including Deputy Chief Paul O'Keefe who was the first police official on the scene, reported smelling a faint smell of alcohol on Meier and in his vehicle.

“He’s a little intoxicated,” one lieutenant tells another in a conversation captured on body-worn camera footage.

Despite the apparent signs that the officer was intoxicated, District Attorney George Brauchler says O’Keefe later told internal affairs investigators that he felt he didn’t have enough evidence for a DUI investigation and that he “erred on the side of protecting [Meier].”


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