An off-duty State Police lieutenant pulled over for suspected DWI early Saturday in Baton Rouge is accused of assaulting a fellow trooper, who used a stun gun to make the arrest.
Sheldon Perkins, 48, of the state Bureau of Investigation, was pulled over shortly before 1:30 a.m. after a trooper saw him speeding on Burbank Drive in a 2018 Ford F-150, according to State Police spokesman Trooper Taylor Scrantz.
Perkins was traveling 85 mph in a 55 mph zone and crossed the median twice, his arrest report says.
The trooper who stopped Perkins could smell a strong odor of alcohol on Perkins' breath and saw that his eyes were bloodshot, the arrest report says. When asked if he had consumed any alcohol recently, Perkins told the trooper he had two beers.
After testing him for impairment, the trooper attempted to arrest Perkins on suspicion of DWI. However, Perkins resisted the trooper and was shocked with a stun gun before he was taken into custody, Scrantz said.
The arrest report says Perkins pushed the trooper who was attempting to arrest him.
Perkins later submitted to a blood alcohol level test and registered over twice the legal limit.
He was booked into East Baton Rouge Parish Prison on first-offense DWI, battery of a police officer, resisting an officer, reckless operation and improper lane usage.
He has since been released and placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation, Scrantz said.
Perkins has been investigated in the past for allegations of improper conduct.
In 2017, he was suspended for two weeks and docked an additional 80 hours pay after investigators found he removed several pieces of evidence from a state vault and gave some of the property to a retired State Police lieutenant.
Items included a $400 ice chest and fishing equipment that had been recovered during a 2015 theft investigation in Grand Isle and had been in storage for several months at State Police headquarters when Perkins loaded them into his pickup truck.
Perkins told investigators he was intending to donate the items, but admitted that he never did.
State Police determined that Perkins violated several policies, including one that requires troopers to "maintain a competency level sufficient to properly perform his duties."
Perkins admitted taking the items. Despite internal investigators concluding his actions amounted to malfeasance in office, Perkins was not arrested or demoted as a result of his actions.
