Cop's drunken hit-and-run ends in 15-day suspension
A Seattle police officer's late night crime spree in Bonney Lake included DUI, hitting another vehicle and leaving the scene, and alleged domestic violence against his passenger.
Seattle Police Officer Robert West is somehow still on the force after crashing while drunk and leaving the scene, according to a disciplinary report released last Friday.
The Office of Police Accountability found sufficient evidence that West committed at least two gross misdemeanors — reckless endangerment and leaving the scene of a collision — but the agency recommended only a 15-day suspension.
On the morning of April 25, 2025, Bonney Lake police discovered West’s truck parked across two driveways with its emergency lights blinking. The responding officer noticed that the front-end was damaged. Empty cans of White Claw were strewn throughout the interior, and unopened cans were sitting outside. The truck matched the description of a vehicle spotted at around 4 a.m., driving erratically, running red lights, speeding, and swerving in and out of oncoming traffic.
West’s truck was parked outside the home of a woman he was seeing casually. A Washington State Patrol trooper interviewed the woman, who said she had been riding with West that night. The woman said that they were arguing, and West allegedly grabbed her by the wrist, flinging her head into the vehicle’s interior.
The woman, who wasn’t wearing a seatbelt, claimed West purposefully slammed the brakes to make her head hit the dashboard.
In his OPA interview, West said that he didn’t recall much about that night. He said that he remembers drinking, but couldn’t say how much. West supposedly could not remember getting into an argument with his passenger or striking a vehicle.
West admitted to driving his truck that night while intoxicated. However, he couldn’t explain how it was damaged.
The OPA cited West’s impaired memory as “strong evidence” that he was extremely intoxicated that night. The agency also pointed to the 911 calls about his driving and his poor parking job. In the end, the OPA found that they had more than enough evidence to prove he had broken two of the laws he was accused of violating. At the same time, the OPA argued it could not establish that he had committed DV assault.