An Anchorage police officer has been charged with operating under the influence while off-duty.
In mid-November, 33-year-old Aaron Richwine was arrested after police say he abandoned a truck in a ditch. Charges for the arrest were filed on Jan. 21.
According to a charging document written by state prosecutors, officers received a call at around 8:14 a.m. on Nov. 19 that a truck had spun into a ditch. The caller reported that the driver appeared intoxicated and walked away from the crash. Police reviewed security footage from a nearby business, and an officer identified Richwine, an 11-year APD veteran, as the driver.
Officers found Richwine at his girlfriend’s nearby house, charges say. Witnesses reported that he appeared drunk when he arrived, and staggered to the house. Officials say Richwine appeared like he’d just woken up when questioned by officers.
“Officers observed Richwine slurred his words at times and noted he had watery and bloodshot eyes and poor balance,” according to the charges.
Richwine denied drinking and driving, the charges say. He told officers that he’d gotten his truck stuck in a ditch and walked to his girlfriend’s home shortly after, where he drank about a pint of Jim Beam whiskey that he’d carried in from the car and fell asleep, according to charges. Officers asked to see the liquor bottle and the glass Richwine said he was drinking from, but Richwine couldn’t tell officers where the items were. His girlfriend told officers she wasn’t home when Richwine arrived, but she didn’t have any hard liquor in the home and said she didn’t believe he drank after he came inside.
Officers later issued a breathalyzer test, and Richwine provided a sample with a blood-alcohol level of .226, close to three times the legal limit, according to the charges. He was arrested and processed at the University of Alaska Anchorage jail, and later released on bail. Richwine faces a misdemeanor charge for operating under the influence. His arraignment is scheduled for Friday morning.
At the time of Richwine’s arrest, APD officials said he was on administrative leave pending an internal investigation. APD officials did not immediately respond to questions Thursday about whether the investigation was still ongoing and if Richwine remains an APD employee. Richwine did not appear in the city’s employee directory Thursday afternoon.
Richwine’s arrest was the second reported instance in a 12-month period of an Anchorage police officer being arrested for illegally operating a vehicle while under the influence. In December 2023, officer Ethan Copeland was arrested and charged with operating under the influence and possessing a firearm while drunk on Joint Base Elemendorf-Richardson. He was off-duty at the time and driving his patrol car. His arrest was made public a month later. Copeland later resigned from the police department, and state prosecutors declined to charge him with a crime.
The police statement announcing Richwine’s arrest said the department “committed to making the arrests of its officers known to the public” after Copeland’s arrest.
