A North Queensland police officer has been fined $2,500 for failing to charge his wife with drink driving after she crashed her car while driving at nearly three times the legal blood alcohol limit.
Benjamin Stewart Shannon, 28, pleaded guilty in the Townsville Magistrates Court on Tuesday to one count of refusal by a public officer to perform his duty.
Shannon was also charged with one count of misconduct in relation to public office but the charge was later dropped by prosecutors.
The senior constable was working at the Kirwan Police Station in June 2019 when he received a call from his then-wife, who had crashed at Mount Louisa in Townsville.
The court heard he drove to the scene with another officer, who remained in the vehicle while Shannon breathalysed his wife and arranged for a tow truck.
The test returned a blood alcohol reading of 0.14 — almost three times the legal limit.
Police prosecutor Mark Fenlon said Shannon used the breathalyser in "training mode", which made the reading harder to download.
He then failed to launch drink driving proceedings against his wife.
"What the officer has done here represents a significant conflict of interest and more is expected from a police officer," Mr Fenlon said.
"He effectively undertook the equivalent of an investigation into what happened, and to use the vernacular, the incident was written off.
"It was inconsistent with his duties as a police officer to not pass the investigation to someone else, and further it was inconsistent with his duties to breathalyse his wife, and further use the device in training mode."
Officer denied knowing wife was drunk
Shannon's lawyer, Steve Zillman, said his client did not initially know his wife had been drinking when he was called to the scene and denied later attempting to conceal her breathalyser results.
"On the return to the [police] vehicle, my client has said 'she's f**king pissed and she's crashed the car'," Mr Zillman said.
He said Shannon had been suffering from mental health problems and significant family stress.
Shannon's conduct was subject to an internal police investigation.
He was stood down from his role in the Queensland Police Service and later suspended from duty on a basic wage.
The court heard he had suffered a financial loss of around $8,000, as well as public humiliation.
Magistrate Cathy Wadley imposed a fine of $2,500 and no conviction was recorded.
"Clearly you were compromised at the scene and that's where you exercised poor judgement — immediately you should have arranged for another officer, to be independent," Magistrate Wadley said.
"No one is exempt from being tested at the roadside."
Outside court, Shannon said he was hopeful the outcome would allow him to return to work.
