Florida Cop Shows up Wasted to Receive MADD Award
Need help? Call our 24/7 helpline. 855-933-3480

Florida Cop Shows up Wasted to Receive MADD Award

0
Share.

drunk police officerMothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) is an advocate group that’s sick and tired of watching citizens get killed by people driving under the influence. But they were super proud of Florida police officer Michael Szeliga for making 100 DUI arrests and decided to bestow an award of honor to him at a fancy banquet for his service in July. It didn’t go so well.

Szeliga showed up to the affair uber drunk, having knocked back too much Jameson and Crown Royale.

It Gets Worse

In addition to the MADD banquet, Szeliga had traveled to Fort Lauderdale to attend a two-day statewide law enforcement training, and the first morning of the convention he had to attend a DUI training session. But halfway through the session,  he bounced.

According to him, the training wasn’t “relevant” since he was soon transferring from the DUI unit to become a detective.

So he went back to his hotel room and proceeded to binge on whiskey and Cokes, then sauntered out to the hotel pool to relax with a bottle of Crown Royale along with two other officers. Technically, they were all still on-duty, which is a big no-no.

When Szelgia was getting ready for the event, a fire alarm went off at the hotel, and he apparently staggered into the hallway outside his room visibly drunk and wearing only boxer shorts. Fortunately or unfortunately, he ran into the Gulfport Police Chief Robert Vincent who stopped him as he was entering the banquet—that was serving no alcohol—before he made an even bigger ass of himself.

“I approached him and said, ‘You probably don’t want to be there. This isn’t appropriate,’” Vincent told WFLA. “He didn’t agree.”

Szelgia allegedly responded with “Dude, I don’t work for you and I don’t have to answer to you.”

The executive director David Pinsker of Florida MADD wasn’t too happy about the incident.

“It’s not something we condone,” Pinsker told WFLA after hearing about the incident. “We certainly don’t serve any alcohol at our event.”

A Slap on the Wrist

As shocking as the entire affair was, the sheriff of Szelgia’s home district Bob Gualtieri merely suspended the drunk officer for one day without pay. That was it. And his transfer as a detective went through.

He is now a detective for the harm against children’s unit.

“He’s no longer in the DUI unit, and it was a lapse in judgment. He gets it,” said Gualtieri, who didn’t want to make the situation worse or heap more embarrassment on the officer, saying he’d “already taken his licks.”

This is all good and well, and shaming someone with a drinking problem definitely isn’t the best course of action since it is a legitimate problem. But nowhere in the reports or internal affairs investigation are any signs that Szelgia was required to attend 12-step meetings or educational groups on alcoholism or problem drinking—you know, the kind of groups your required to attend if you get a DUI.

Thankfully, he didn’t put people’s lives in jeopardy by getting in the car, but instead of suspending the officer for just one day, it seems it would have been better to give him at least a short leave of absence to get his shit together.

The kind of behavior Szelgia engaged in may not have been an isolated incident, especially since he packed a bottle of Jameson in his suitcase. Sure, normal drinkers sometimes overdo it at parties or weddings or special events. But the ungodly timing of the whole affair, and the fact that he was drinking alone in the hotel room, spells problem drinking to me.

Problem drinking isn’t something that tends to just magically goes away on its own. And that, as Szelgia can probably attest, is enough to make someone with a problem MADD.

Any Questions? Call Now To Speak to a Rehab Specialist
(855) 933-3480
Share.

About Author

Tracy Chabala is a freelance writer for many publications including the LA Times, LA Weekly, Smashd, VICE and Salon. She writes mostly about food, technology and culture, in addition to addiction and mental health. She holds a Master's in Professional Writing from USC and is finishing up her novel.