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He was arraigned on the OVI charge July 26 and returned home.
“He said, after his initial arraignment...he was distraught and went home and drank, not realizing they would call him back into court,” OSHP internal affairs documents read. “Shockey admitted he was intoxicated when he went to get the ankle monitoring placement.”
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In a separate incident a day after the crash, medics responded to a house where Shockey was found after someone reported a person choking at the address.
“David repeatedly identified himself as a ‘drunk’ and said that he needed help,” Shockey told West Carrollton Police, according to a report obtained through a public records request. “He also informed us he recently completed an alcohol rehab program in Florida which lasted 50 plus days.”
An Ohio State Highway Patrol internal affairs investigation into Shockey’s crash shows they interviewed multiple people about the now fired trooper.
Those interviews included a female clerk at a West Carrollton Ameristop gas station, who told OSHP investigators she remembered Shockey buying alcohol in uniform on two occasions in December 2018. She spoke to OSHP investigators after seeing Shockey’s arrest for OVI on the news.
“Shockey could not recall purchasing alcohol from Ameristop, while in uniform, or driving a marked patrol car,” investigators wrote in the internal affairs investigation documents after interviewing Shockey.
Two other employees at the gas station said they did not remember Shockey buying alcohol in uniform, according to the investigation records.
Troopers attempted to obtain credit card receipts and surveillance footage to back the female clerk’s claim, but were unable to do so, according to the records.
Shockey was terminated on Dec. 20, according to an OHSP records obtained earlier.
Shockey is appealing the termination, according to the OSHP. Shockey’s criminal attorney, Christian Cavalier, said he is not representing Shockey in the appeal of his firing.
The firing was for “conduct unbecoming an officer” involving the OVI arrest, a December letter signed by Ohio Department of Public Safety Director Thomas Stickrath states.
“It was found that while off-duty, you were involved in a private property crash and arrested for OVI, which brought discredit to the division,” Stickrath’s letter states.
Shockey was cited for OVI, failure to control and hit-skip on private property in connection to the crash, West Carrollton police records show.
When trooper misconduct firings occur, it is commonly after due process, Lt. Craig Cventan has said.
“Typically, they will wait until the criminal case is over … It depends on how severe a case it is and how it impacts the division,” Cventan said.
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The status of the criminal case is unclear. Judge Robert Rettich III on Dec. 30 sealed the case’s records, Miamisburg Clerk of Courts Amanda Zennie said in an email in January.
Shockey’s attorney has declined to comment on the case’s status, citing Rettich’s sealing of records.
Shockey was placed on leave without pay after the charges, the state patrol said. He was reinstated fewer than two weeks later after he was granted limited driving privileges by Rettich, court records show.
The state patrol opened an administrative investigation into Shockey when it learned of his arrest, according to Cventan
RELATED: Ohio state trooper charged with OVI, fleeing from crash in bar parking lot
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