Local Police Officer Arrested

A four state police officer spends the night on the opposite side of the bars last night after being arrested for DUI and leaving the scene of an injury accident. Kansas police department`s Lieutenant John Zappa was arrested around midnight Saturday night after witnesses placed him behind the wheel of a car that hit two horses with riders. Galena Police Chief Cameron Arthur says, "Not very good things happen when officers drink and drive and get involved in accidents that injure people. That`s the bottom line." Officials say Lieutenant Zappa left a social gathering after getting into an arguement with his significant other. Police reports indicate when he left the gathering he crossed the center line and almost hit three teenagers. Witnesses say shortly after 9 p-m he then hit the people on horseback near an intersection north of Galena, Kansas. "We`re very fortunate here that no lives have been lost as of last night`s ordeals and the alcohol tha we believe was involved," Arthur said Sunday in a KSN interview. Kansas Highway Patrol is heading the investigation that lead up to last Saturday night`s arrest close to midnight. Although Zappa wasn`t given a breath test until that time. Chief arthur says the results were still enough to arrest him. "He would have definitely been going down in my opinion and was still over the legal limit and had not drank anything according to what i`ve heard after the fact of the accident." The legal level of intoxication in Kasas is .08 %. Per the Kansas highway patrol`s request, Zappa spent the night in the Galena jail and was transferred to the Cherokee County jail to await bond. Whatever happens, community member are calling for someone to take accountability. "I had very irate neighbors out here and very irate family members who are saying this is not right. Somebody needs to accept responsibility. We`re police officers, we`re judges, we`re lawyers, we`re everything here and we need to accept responsibility." While officers don`t recieve stiffer penalties from the law itself, a situation such as this could cause an officer to lose his whole career. But Chief Arthur says law enforcement officials should be held to a higher standard. Zappa was released from the jail this afternoon on a three thousand dollar bond. The Kansas Attorney General`s office is taking over the investigation. Reported by: Jennifer Grannan