Watch: Oklahoma officer arrests police captain for DUI

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“Should know better” and “does know better” are often mistakenly interchanged. Take for example the case of Oklahoma City Police Department (OKCPD) Captain James French, a 32-year veteran of the OKCPD, who was recently arrested for driving while under the influence. Should he have known better? Yup. Does he know better? Clearly not.

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His arrest was bravely pulled off by officer Christoper Skinner, who pulled over French after witnessing him swerving between lanes and speeding, report several outlets, including The Oklahoman. Skinner’s report notes that French’s “breath smelled of alcohol, his eyes were watering, and his speech was slurred.” When asked if he had one too many, French arrogantly replied “I’m a captain on the police department,” a feeble attempt to skirt the law he clearly doesn’t uphold. 

Never a quitter, French, after being asked the question again, points towards his chest and whispers “turn your camera off” twice, before Skinner replies “I’m not turning my camera off.” The drunken pleas for the deactivation of the body cam go on, with French bargaining “Will you please talk to me? You can turn it off and turn it on.”

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There’s a nearly 14-minute YouTube video of the interaction, posted by The Oklahoman, recorded by Skinner’s body-cam. It’s painful to watch, as French knows he’s busted and doesn’t fare well during sobriety tests administered by Skinner. The video ends with the clang of cuffs being wrapped around French’s wrists.

During French’s repeated appeals to his authority, Skinner calmly stood his ground, refuting “I’m a captain” with “I understand that sir… I’m a sergeant, and I’ve taken an oath to uphold the law. I don’t show favouritism to anyone regardless. I don’t care if you’re a gang-banger or the President of the United States.”

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“As soon as we were notified of the incident, [French] was placed on administrative leave with pay,” OKCPD Chief Wade Gourley told OKCFox25. “We do have a process that when criminal charges are filed, per our FOP contract, we do what is called a pre-determination hearing to then put that person on leave without pay, because again it’s a criminal matter.”

Thankfully, Chief Gourley is openly praising Skinner’s actions, though I imagine some of his colleagues on the force may not be. “The officer did exactly as he should have, and handled it very professionally in my opinion,” said Gourley. “Our policies of our body camera, there’s certain types of calls that the body cameras are required to be on, and traffic stops are one of those.”