AURORA, Colo. – An Aurora police officer was sentenced last week to 20 days of in-home detention and a year of probation to follow after she pleaded guilty to driving under the influence and prohibited use of a weapon for being drunk and carrying a weapon.
Officer Annette Brook, 56, of Parker, pleaded guilty and was sentenced on Jan. 9. The 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office said it asked the judge to impose a 10-day jail sentence. Brook was originally charged with driving under the influence per se and careless driving in addition to the other counts, but those charges were dismissed by the district attorney’s office, court records indicate.
Brook was arrested on June 17, 2019 after she got into a single-car crash on westbound C-470 at Lucent Blvd. and hit a concrete highway barrier.
She was off-duty at the time.
She told troopers she had fallen asleep at the wheel, but a test showed her blood-alcohol content was 0.227 – nearly three times above the legal limit of 0.08.
Troopers also found a loaded handgun inside a bag inside her car.
The Aurora Police Department said Monday Brook was still employed, but on restriction duty in a non-enforcement role, and said that was expected to be Brook’s role for the foreseeable future.
There were at least three DUI incidents involving Aurora police officers in 2019. In addition to Brook’s June arrest, another off-duty officer, Joshua Teeples, was arrested on DUI allegations in August in Castle Rock (he has pleaded not guilty and is set to face a trial in March), and Officer Nathan Meier was found passed out drunk at the wheel of his unmarked car in the middle of the road. An independent review of how he was not charged with DUI and how fellow officers handled the situation has been ordered.
“Nobody is above the law in our community,” 18th Judicial District Attorney George Brauchler said in a statement in regard to Brook’s sentence. “Police, plumber, principal or otherwise are equally protected and accountable under our laws.”